A Change of Heart
by Beakwood
Summary: At the verge of death Monet tries to find a reasoning to keep living. With an unexpected savior she finds herself slowly feeling her loyalty towards Joker shattering day by day. Under strong suspicion and disbelief she will find those willing to give her a chance to see things different, from those who are free to ride over the seas without fear or worries.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to Change of Hearth, this fic is on current update, previous chapters will be edited later for further improvement. Summary might get updated during future chapters.**

 **Hi! Welcome to my first FF about One Piece. I've been watching this series since the very start of it. Around few episodes ago I couldn't help but feel that things were going very slowly, and also that I still couldn't get over the fact Monet really died back at Punk Hazard. If I had to be honest that was a pretty waste of character by their part, but oh well...**

 **This fic, kinda obviously, will take a different approach towards the events that happened at the end of Punk Hazard last battle. How?**

 **Read and find out.**

 **Enjoy.**

Pain. There was just nothing else. Her mind felt numb just as her legs were failing to carry her further, the flesh wounds inflicted on her made the situation harder to process. Her breath was slow but steady, she tried her best to not pass out from exhaustion, blood was dripping from her chest into the floor. Screams everywhere followed by a huge explosion. She tried to keep walking erratically towards her objective, it took all her will just to take one step after the other, but that last explosion was enough to shake her off of the course.

It would take few minutes before Monet could realize she went through the wrong path. While leaving Biscuits Room wasn't that difficult, it seemed Monet failed to recognize which path she used to leave it.

The poisonous gas already filled Biscuits Room and was making its way thorough the corridors at its own terrifying pace. She definitely didn't want to get caught by the gas.

More explosions echoed around the facility, Monet could only wonder what could be happening. Undoubtedly Caesar was doing whatever he wanted to stop the mugiwaras, but the harpy woman knew better that he wouldn't stand up for much longer if the crazy scientist had to face the whole Straw Hat crew.

After pondering on Caesar's last stand for a few seconds Monet finally realized she had went the wrong way. For a brief second she almost fell over and panicked. She couldn't go back anymore! The gas was slowly catching behind her and there was no other way she could reach that room if she kept going through this corridor.

It was then, on that very short moment she felt death upon her, she thought about her sister back at Dressrosa. She would die here and never see Sugar again. Never had the bird woman felt so dreadful like this, not since her and Sugar were alone back then, many years ago.

Perhaps it was for the best. If she died here Joker wouldn't take her failure into account and blame this on her. If she survived it was most likely she would end punished terribly. She could enjoy seeing others in pain, but only those she had no attachment towards at all, to feel pain herself was something she tried her best to avoid.

Law. This was all his fault!

Everything went to hell the very day he set foot into Punk Hazard. Monet hated herself sometimes. Despite knowing how predictable it was that Trafalgar Law would try to fool them for his own personal gain, she allowed herself to feel the very bit of sympathy towards the pirate. Her minimum concern was all Law needed to take advantage of her. It became very obvious the moment Vergo came into play.

She was a bit relieved Vergo did not lectured her about that moment, or probably didn't notice while he was focused on Law twitching painfully over the floor. She couldn't help but be amused as she observed Law's torture. A part of her really enjoyed that. The other felt a bit guilty.

The only moment she allowed herself to think she could do more in life than just being a servant...and here she was, waiting for her own foolish death.

Her steps were becoming heavier as time went by, she heard voices and several footsteps echoing somewhere in front of her. The sounds of explosions ceased, but then something else made a terrible noise that she failed to recognize. Whatever it was it made the whole ground shook very swiftly.

She reached into a larger hallway. Monet allowed herself to lay against the nearest wall, her knees finally gave in, and she fell over her back quarters.

This is it. She couldn't go any further. This is where her body would lay for who knows how long. It felt weird to see blood pouring out of her, but she couldn't feel any colder. Perhaps her Yuki Yuki no Mi was delaying tremendously the effects of blood loss. It relieved her a bit, maybe death wouldn't be so painful. It was rather ironic how she would probably die the same way she tried to kill the captain of the mugiwaras.

Monkey D. Luffy.

That name was set like stone in her head. His fierce power and willingness of one she have never seen before. A man that aimed himself to be the King of the Pirates.

A man that would have to kill Joker eventually.

She allowed herself an smile to reach her lips despite the seriousness of her situation.

"Monkey D. Luffy...I wonder if you really know what you got yourself into..."

Yells and footsteps became louder and louder. Monet crossed her wings over her belly and tried to ignore them, she bent her head towards her chest allowing her bright green hair to block the excessive light over her amber eyes. Her instinct told her about the inevitable gas that was closing through the hallway she came from.

It took a lot to not pity herself and cry over. She never allowed herself to show such weakness. But it was on her greatest moment of weakness, at the verge of certain death, she allowed herself a cry to escape from her lips, one that echoed through the hallway and dissipated into distance.

A second later the yells and footsteps ceased, followed by another single yell. Monet opened her eyes a bit, for a brief moment she felt certain familiarity with that last scream. Few seconds later more footsteps that slowly faded into distance, followed by more panicked voices.

At least now she would be allowed to die quietly.

It was only then that the sound of hooves echoing through the hallway brought her to snap her eyes wide open. She slowly stared towards the right side, right at the end of the hallway.

At the very end of it stood a tall figure over two legs. It amazed Monet for a very brief second, at least until she fixed her eyes on the red/blue hat with antlers coming out of them. An X cross marked on the center of it.

While keeping her head bent she could see that the anthro reindeer was, perhaps, even more shocked to find her laying in the hallway. It gave a strange feel to Monet to see him this much different from that previous time, while he was in Biscuit Room with other two crew members.

This reindeer staring mouth-agape at her was nothing like that pathetic creature she tried to kill moments ago. One that her foolish sympathy allowed him to spy over her and Caesar while they had Law and others as prisoners, a sympathy that gave her hope the little creature could take the children away.

Otherwise she would never have thrown him that paper.

He made his way towards her rather bravely. She would expect him to be a lot more cautious towards someone who tried to kill him moments ago, independent of how badly wounded they could be.

His huge strange hat formed a shadow line that covered over his eyes, those same eyes that stared at her filled with fear and doubt.

"Well...what you're waiting for?" Monet asked while trying to keep her voice even. "Just finish me already."

It was then, when she saw his even more shocked expression, she knew he wasn't going to do that at all. Not that such assurance made her feel better.

"I..." Chopper felt his voice tremble a bit. His mind screaming with panic as he knew he was standing over a very difficult choice with very little time left. The gas was few meters away, if he took any longer they both would be trapped here and die.

The moment earlier in which Chopper was rushing to the exit along the marines and Mocha he heard this distant cry coming into his sensitive ears. He urged the marines to keep forward the fastest they could while carrying Mocha with them. With little time left Chopper knew he would sorely regret if he didn't check what this cry could be. What if it was one the children?Maybe one of them had got lost by separating from the group.

Finding the half-bird women laying against the wall while bleeding wasn't exactly something that would ever have crossed his mind. Also made him wonder what Zoro did to her.

Tony Tony Chopper would have seriously pondered on leaving her to die wasn't for two good reasons.

The fact he's a doctor and never would leave someone to die was one, independent of who they would be. The second was that he was highly suspicious of who gave him the paper that allowed him to help the children later on, including saving Mocha after she was poisoned. Of course every time he thought about it he would think if Monet wasn't the one who gave him that clue.

Still he wasn't sure.

Chopper let out a frustrated groan. Simply there was no time left, and he really didn't think he would hear, or feel, the end of it when Nami finds out.

He slowly knelled in front of her, the weight of this decision crushing him already to no end.

"Can you stand?"

Now it was Monet's turn to express shock. She allowed herself to stare straight towards the reindeer. Hardly she would be surprised by anything in general, but this was not something that she could ever expect at all.

"What?" For a very brief moment Monet actually felt a bit scared of him. "You fool!How can you believe I would allow myself to be saved by you?!"

Despite her rant Chopper kept his face composed. He half expected this to happen. With remarkable acting he made a confused face while looking at her.

"You really want to die?"

"I..." Monet merely stared at him, she couldn't really answer that at the moment. Part of her wanted to die, to see all this madness end, the same part that knew she would never have a life while Joker lived. But a bigger part of her wanted to see her sister again and see how much there was to live for, if ever came the possibility of getting away from Joker.

Chopper carefully attached few bandages over her bleeding spots, once he was sure Monet would not object to it. Took no longer he realized she was sustaining odd injuries that would require deeper attention, but that was something he would check for later. They had to leave now!

"Can you grip your wings around my chest? I'll have to carry us really fast and I'll risk you falling quite a lot."

Monet didn't move. She kept her face rigid. Every fiber of her body screamed at her to kill this fool for taking her as a weakling.

It was only then that she felt, deep under her own icy attitude, that same feeling when thinking about her sister and how Monet's death would affect her.

 _'My sister, I'm doing this for her.'_

Slowly she tried to stand, allowing a brief moment for Chopper to reach his arm over to assist her. While making her way around him she couldn't help but notice how fluffy his fur felt against her skin. She mortified herself for thinking of such, but again it was the same stupid feeling that made her feel sympathetic towards Law at certain points.

After firmly gripping her wings around his chest, she was also amazed at how tall he was in this different form. She was confident that Zoan types could not have more than three different transformation levels, but deep down she was sure this wasn't a regular Zoan type at all.

It also made her wonder how many perfect animal portraits this Zoan user has, she really couldn't remember seeing a Zoan type that would resemble so much on the animal they choose after they transformed.

It was when Chopper took impulse, jumped and covered the distance from where they were, to the end of the hallway he came from in the blink of an eye, that Monet understood why he requested her to hang tight on him. His jump would cover abnormal distances despite the closure of the hallways, but once they reach the main hall it became quite easier.

After that first jump Monet quickly glanced back and saw the gas filling over the spot she was laying mere seconds ago.

To be that close to death and avoid it in such a way...it made her wonder if perhaps she did have a reason to live other than her sister.

As Chopper kept covering large distances at each jump the bird-woman finally took notice of the calmness that reign around them. No more explosions, yelling, or ground shaking.

She could safely assume Caesar has been defeated, just as she presumed. It was when she understood Chopper's urgency when talking with her. Caesar had programmed a lock-down, if both of them didn't reach in time they would be locked in and the gas would catch them later no matter what.

Again the same numbness that filled her mind earlier was trying to take her over again. Chopper felt Monet's grip weaken a bit and, on reflexive movement, used his hands to grip her back quarters in an attempt to hold her steady. Numbness or not, Monet was torn between beating the living hell out of the Zoan type for being such a pervert bastard, or blushing furiously while gripping her teeth in a great attempt to cover her indignation.

Part of her knew Chopper was just looking to keep her safe, not to take advantage of a situation in which they both could die! Still it stung her pride quite a bit, and her pride was already deeply hurt after recent events.

Despite the very turbulent quest towards safety, Monet felt exhaustion force her to lay her head over the back of Chopper's neck. The reindeer was taken aback by this, but remained silent, focusing all his strength on getting them both to the exit.

Finally Chopper saw the huge metal doors closing on distance, funny enough he saw the marines and Mocha barely ahead of them. Apparently it was much faster for the reindeer to carry Monet than it was for the marines to carry Mocha.

After few jumps he managed to catch on them.

"Oi!It's the tanuki doctor an..." The marine's eyes bulged out of his eyes when he saw Monet. "Ehhh?!It's the cutie-chan!"

For some odd reason, at least for Chopper, seeing Monet seemed to give extra motivation to the other marines as they charged faster towards the closing gate. He failed to notice Monet blushing furiously on his back.

Chopper could finally see Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Robin, Usopp, Brook, Sanji, and Law standing near each other as the group finally made in between the gates just in time.

"Chopper!" Nami screamed in relief that he and the others made it, but when she got closer her eyes widened at pure shock and disbelief.

Chopper could tell, by seeing her face and how the others reacted, this situation would get him in serious trouble just as he expected.

Still he felt a sting of hope while looking at his captain, while many would disagree about what Chopper had done, Luffy eyed his doctor and gave him a short nod while letting a tiny smile form over his lips. It was not like he would expect Chopper to do any different. Chopper took note of Luffy's terrible condition.

Robin and Nami seemed somewhat conflicted on what he did. While Robin was less apparent of her indecision, Nami was at the verge of slashing at him terribly.

Zoro was neutral, but Chopper knew him enough to see his certain disapproval. Still it didn't bother Chopper much as he firmly gazed back at the swordsman wondering what Zoro did with Monet. He never heard of Zoro injuring a women before, what made this occasion different?

Usopp spent a least five minutes yelling at how Chopper had doomed them to their deaths, complaining at Luffy how crazy this whole situation was and this would be the end of them. For once the reindeer decided to ignore him.

Brook was certainly curious as he barely saw Monet before. Not much to tell of what to expect from him.

Sanji spent most of his time around him and Monet as Chopper laid her down to perform a further checking. Sanji talked for a long time complementing Chopper over his manliness and how heroic and honorable his acts were. After making sure nothing was life-threatening Chopper requested Sanji to keep and eye on Monet, to which no doubt Sanji did without questioning. The reindeer hoped the blonde wouldn't annoy her to death.

Of all the expressions reacting to Monet's presence there was one Chopper felt worried about.

Law.

The strange man didn't seem angry, nor relieved. But stared at Monet with such intensity that disturbed Chopper a bit, that murderous cold glare was rather unfitting.

Chopper went over to check on Mocha and the other children. He was a bit relieved that Monet kept this whole ordeal in silence, it made things way much easier despite how annoying Usopp and Sanji could be.

"Oi, Chopper!"

The reindeer turned around to see Luffy calling him over. He quickly went to his side with a guilty face. The young men stared quietly at him for few seconds before saying anything.

"Not much of a choice, right?" Luffy asked with a grin. It was one of these rare moments that Chopper could be assured of his captain's perceptiveness.

"Yeah..." The doctor replied rather shyly. "...sorry, Luffy. I just couldn't leave her there..."

"I know," Luffy said with a short laugh. "Why are you apologizing though?You did what you felt it was the right thing to do. You're a doctor aren't ya?"

It was such comment that helped Chopper to feel more assured of his choice.

"Oi!Enough fussing around idiots!We have to go now, Luffy punched Caesar somewhere along that tunnel, we need to go after him and get everyone out safely," Sanji remarked while standing near the bird-women.

Monet was awfully quiet while watching everything developing around her, keeping herself calm was a strong part of her personality. She could resemble Nico Robin at certain aspects.

It was difficult to accept all what was happening without feeling terribly overwhelmed, but she managed to do it without much of an effort. It was one of these occasions, in which Monet felt, she would have to let the wind take her.

She just could hope the wind would take her far away from where she fell.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey!I'm back with another chapter and also would like to thank all the favs from random/reviewers so far, thank you all much for the support. Now let's check those reviews!**

kona kona lee;

 ** _Vaya!Muchas gracias!Me estoy de contento que te has gustado por lo que he hecho, mismo que sea muy poco. :P_**

MusicOfMadness;

 ** _Definitely she had(has) potential!I'm quite amazed at how many fans got upset over her death. I though I was among very few on this one._**

Blue VanLocke;

 **Yes she is!Don't worry, I'll try to catch on her personality, but then I have LOTS of characters to get into. Took me a while but now I realize the vast amount of stuff I'm working over.**

The Neo Productions;

 **I feel ya, and don't worry about the explanation. Also I couldn't have that elaborated in the first chapter since that incident happened while they were traveling to the outside of the mountain, so at that moment such wouldn't happen yet. The timeline is really easy to follow, but then with so much happening is hard to remember, lol.**

Guest;

 **Thank you!**

The Straw Hats, along with the Marines and Caesar's ex-subordinates, helped the kidnapped children while they made their way into the tunnel. They found an old railroad that would lead straight to the shore outside the mountain. They quickly figured out how to activate the railroad system and gathered everyone inside the giant cartwheels.

While Chopper was helping Monet to get inside Law came nearby her, without being spotted he snatched the Baby Den Den Mushi that was attached to Monet's belt. He didn't want her to contact Doflamingo at any given chance.

Usopp was being very adamant about tying a rope around Monet to make sure she didn't try anything, but Robin's assurance that such wouldn't be necessary was enough to calm down the marksman, at least until the bird women, not missing the chance to make a snark remark, implied she might do something to Usopp if he did not watch himself.

This was enough to make Usopp sweat buckets while Monet was enjoying his distress. No one took it seriously anyways, aside of Usopp of course. It's not like Monet would try anything with the whole straw hat crew and the Marines around her.

After leaving building R-66 using the carts, that were used normally used for fast transportation of heavy material, or even massive amount of supplies, a tense atmosphere was pairing over all of its occupants.

Their journey thorough Punk Hazard was finally coming to an end.

"Hey, cocky bastard!How long till we get outside?" Zoro asked towards Sanji with an yawn. The swordsman had grow bored quickly.

"As if I would know it moss head, why don't you shut up and make sure this thing stay on the tracks?" Sanji replied irritably while moving carefully around the cart. Despite its size the cart didn't gave away any false sense of security, especially when shaking intensely after passing over certain parts of the railroad.

"Why don't you ask that bird women over there?She probably knows since she's been working for Caesar," Smoker suggest while looking towards Monet. Tashigi was standing next her superior office, but she made her best to ignore Monet's presence. Chopper had already patched the marine's shoulder before they got inside.

"I'm not sure if Caesar is even alive considering how far he flew past this tunnel. I've been wondering if we would find him along the way," Sanji said while taking a new cigarette and lighting it up.

"That villainous scientist won't ever think again of doing what he did here along these last years, if he does then mugiwara will send him to where he belongs!" Kin'emon said while staying close to Momonosuke, which still was on his small dragon form.

"I'm sure Caesar's still alive, he wouldn't die so easily. Unlike others..." Law said while shooting a quick glance at Monet, to which the harpy returned with greater intensity. "...at least Vergo is no longer a concern, as soon as we get outside we'll go look for Caesar. Probably will be laying unconscious somewhere."

"Which reminds me...I suppose you're taking Caesar with you, isn't that right mugiwara?" Smoker turned around to face the young straw hat captain.

"Aye, we take him back to the Sunny, Law and I already decided this," Luffy responded with some seriousness.

"Good. Then you won't mind if I take the bird women into custody."

Monet tensed slightly while listening to their conversation. She definitely wasn't looking forward to be taken by the straw hats, but now facing the possibility of being taken by the Marines made her prefer the pirate crew a lot more.

"Nope, she's coming with us," Luffy said without any hesitation.

"Luffy!Are you dumb or what?!She's too dangerous for us to take care off!Do you have any idea how much we already have to worry about!?" Usopp pretty much was complaining at Luffy's ears to make sure he was listening. "For once leave the Marines do their job!"

The straw hat captain made a confused face towards his crew member.

"Huh?What you're talking about?She's fine, she gave me a lot of work back there, hahahahha. I almost died!" He said smiling happily.

"AND HOW EXACTLY THAT MAKES HER LESS DANGEROUS YOU IDIOT?!"

While listening the whole ordeal Zoro was a bit surprised by this, if Monet actually stood her ground against Luffy and himself maybe she wasn't that much of a pitiful warrior as he supposed. Of course Luffy's idiocy probably underestimated Monet's powers and ended giving him a much harder time against the harpy than he should have.

"Usopp-kun, I'm afraid there's no more you can do, you won't make the captain change his mind. Besides I don't think doctor-san would be too happy if his latest patient was arrested without getting a check-up," Robin said with a devious smirk while standing near one of the corners of the cart.

Monet merely glared at her before looking elsewhere. She quickly glanced towards the reindeer that have been checking over the children since they left the labs. The harpy was slightly surprised to see his face reddening considerably while checking his patient's heart-beats.

"Oi, Nami!You're not going to say anything?" Usopp went for her aid at the matter, hoping the navigator could get through Luffy.

"I don't think there's much I can say..." The orange hair girl was looking at Monet with clear distrust. Normally the navigator would have objected more ferociously, but something about the whole thing made her just remain quietly apprehensive.

"You're just being too fast to judge Nami-swan!I'm sure you two would get along just fine," Sanji said in a melodious manner. Nami let out an exasperated breath. Nothing was ever wrong to Sanji when it comes about women.

"Brook!What about you, eh?!I'm sure you must have something against this!" Usopp was looking for support anywhere he could. The skeleton merely shrugged at him.

"I'm not familiar with that beautiful lady. I must get to know her better before forming an opinion," He said rather formally while adjusting his tie. Monet tried to cover a furious blush that spread over her face. Thankfully for her it went unnoticed.

"If that's the way you want, so be it mugiwara," Smoker said after watching the whole display silently. Shortly after he placed his left hand over his chest with clear discomfort. Law took notice of this and slowly raised himself from where he was sitting since he entered the cart.

"I almost forgot..." Law said while getting near Smoker and pulling something out of his pocket.

During that same moment Chopper came towards Monet to perform another check on her. The bird woman was so distracted by Law's actions that she failed to realize what the reindeer was doing. At least until she felt something cold touch her chest, that _almost_ made her swing her wing across the reindeer's face as a reflexive movement.

"Eh?...what?!" Chopper's face was slightly pale. This distraction allowed Monet to recover from her well-hidden outburst. "M-Monet...your heart...?"

"What's the matter doctor-san?" Robin asked after hearing the reindeer gasp at shock.

"She...doesn't have a heartbeat," Chopper responded while being clearly flabbergasted by this 'unheard of' predicament.

"That's because I took it," Law said while looking at them. Monet frowned while staring at the man she hated the most, but her frown faded almost instantly when she saw Law holding over his hand an imprisoned heart. She had all the reason to believe it was hers.

"What?But...how's that possible?She...normally any living being can't live for too long without it," Chopper seemed quite disturbed by this prospect.

"My power allows me to do many things, and this is one," Law said with simplicity while looking at the heart on his hand briefly before turning around and giving it to Smoker.

"Law!What are you doing?Give my heart back to me!" Monet yelled at him while standing up with difficulty. Everyone tensed as they saw the bird women getting slightly enraged. She could be rather scary when angry.

"This is not your heart," Law said calmly before returning to his sitting spot. "That one is from Smoker, yours has been with Caesar all this time."

Monet went pale instantly. If that was correct then he must had given her heart to Caesar, claiming it was from Smoker after Law returned from his engagement. But if her heart has been with Caesar...

"You bastard," She spat it with all the venom and hate she could muster. "I suppose I'm lucky enough that my heart wasn't crushed during Caesar's fight."

"You can say so, I'm actually disappointed it didn't happen, would've spared a lot of problems," Law said without any care while sitting. "Even so it's not like something won't happen,"

Monet froze on spot. She was still debating between attacking Law or leaving matters for the future, but after that last bit she could sense the dread she felt before just minutes ago.

"What do you mean?" Despite any situation Monet was always successful to maintain her voice even and rather threatening.

"At this point Caesar won't have much to lose, he believes he's in possess of Smoker's heart. I wouldn't be surprised if he recovered his senses before we get to him. He sure won't have strength to run away, but sure enough to move over himself. You can take a guess after that..."

Monet tried to respond but the words never came out, she was standing petrified on her current spot, as if she just heard she was about to be executed. She wasn't the only one to understand the possible outcome of Law's inquire.

"Oi, Law," Luffy seemed rather upset while pouting his lips towards his former ally. "Enough playing and just get her heart back," Trafalgar Law sweatdropped slightly while keeping his eyes closed.

"I'm not playing anything mugiwara, if she dies by Caesar's hands that's not my problem, " Law responded rather coldly.

"Hey Luffy, what kind of shitty alliance is this?" Sanji asked abruptly while closing dangerously over them. "I'm not helping any scumbag that cares not if a women dies, especially one treacherous enough to steal her very heart," The blond added rather passionately.

"Pervert cook," Zoro said rather quietly, but by some miracle Sanji managed to hear that.

"Eh?What was that stupid marimo?!" Sanji closed the distance between and Zoro in the split of a second. "What did you say again?" Zoro sweatdropped a bit, but kept his face straight.

"I forgot..."

"Yo-

"ENOUGH!"

Took less of a second for Sanji and Zoro to have their faces planted on the ground with two big bumps over their heads.

"Oi, why did you hit me you damn witch!?" The swordsman asked while raising from the ground angrily and glaring daggers at Nami.

Monet tried her best to not pay attention to them, but seeing Zoro getting smacked down like that by Nami made her quite amused. The bird women still felt very uneasy near the swordsman, she was looking forward for the chance of getting even with the pirate hunter. Normally she would've been more than happy to keep watching as Sanji and Zoro exchanged more words, and soon swords and kicks, at least until Nami put them down for good.

The fact her heart was at Caesar's possession was too much of an unpleasant perspective, simply being the fact Caesar didn't know it was hers. Monet knew better that Caesar did not fully trust her, and if he even knew he had Monet's heart instead, he had no reason to keep her alive since he clearly saw her as being disposable, just the same way Joker saw her.

That was all she was for these men, a mere tool to accomplish their own goals, whether she lived or not was irrelevant.

 _'We sworn to devote our lifes to his cause, would be really that wrong if we choose to keep living?_ ' Thoughts raced her mind while staring quietly at the metallic ground she was standing over. _'I can't do this choice without Sugar...'_

"Law, can't you get Monet's heart back?" Chopper asked nervously while coming near the 'Surgeon of Death'. Monet's thoughts came to an abrupt stop. Her sensitive audition caught a silent conversation near her.

"I already said, if she dies it's not my problem," Law said without bothering to look at the reindeer. Chopper quickly glanced at the bird women few meters behind him. Despite listening the conversation Monet kept staring away as if in a trance. Chopper was purely concerned about her and did not think she deserved such fate.

"If she dies it's my fault."

Law slowly raised his head to look at the reindeer in front of him, his eyes silently questioning that logic. Despite Chopper nearly whispering while talking Monet managed to listen what's being said with ease, her eyes widened slightly as she heard that. Why the reindeer was taking responsibility on her behalf?

"I'm a doctor and she's under my care, as a doctor I take full responsibility over those I take care of. If Monet dies under my care, I shall take all the blame for it."

Chopper's voice didn't express concern, but total assurance.

Trafalgar Law and Tony Tony Chopper stared into each other's eyes for what seemed endless minutes. One would think they had created a link in which they exchanged their beliefs over something they had in common, despite Chopper never being aware about what Law ever wanted to be while he was a kid.

Monet silently watched the exchange of glances, her view about the reindeer been slightly different now.

Law slowly raised his left hand with the fingers pointing towards the ground.

"I probably will regret this," He said after sighing heavily. " _Room!_ "

 **Meanwhile...**

Pain shot up Caesar's body while slowly regaining conscious, his eyes opened at their open pace while trying to absorb the intense light of the sun. Its been a long time since he left the inside of his labs. His breath was steady at the most, his legs failed to respond him and the movement of his arms was very limited.

Took him a great deal to turn his back around over the snow, being sunk into it didn't make it any easier.

 _'Damn, be damned mugiwara!I swear I'll make sure you pay for this, all of you!'_

Enraged and beaten Caesar tried to locate his Den Den Mushi so he could call for assistance, what he found instead surprised him and gave away a very interesting idea.

 _'Smoker's heart!...Yes...I shall not be defeated without taking one of you with me...'_

A creepy smile crept upon his face and he tried to locate his hand-manufactured dagger. Once being successful, he placed the heart unceremoniously over the snow. Slowly as Caesar raised his arm, dagger at hand for the strike, he failed to notice a sudden disturbance on the air around him.

"DIE WELL SMOKER, YOU BASTARD!" Caesar yelled in triumph as he lunged the dagger at the small magically caged organ.

 _Pop_

"GAAAARRRGHHH!"

The mad scientist screamed in agony as he held tight the hand, previously holding the dagger, that now was bleeding profusely, an injury produced as his own dagger punctured his hand.

Caesar did not stab a soft surface as he expected. Laying on the ground, were mere seconds ago was a human organ, now a small fractured rock was peacefully standing over the sea of snow.

 **Meanwhile...**

 _Pop_

Chopper stood in awe as he watched a heart suddenly materialize at Law's hand, where previously he was holding a small rock. Not understanding why Law needed a rock he made a direct question to the Warlord. It made the reindeer quite fascinated that Law would need solid material to perform some sort of transportation, as if to compensate it somewhat.

"Here," Law said extending the hearth towards Chopper. "It took me a while to expand the area for me to locate it. We're still half-way of getting outside. I'm just going to make clear that after this I'll not care if she causes any sort of problem. This is up to you all."

Chopper nodded quietly as he took the heart very carefully, it scared him a bit to feel the beat emanating from inside that strange cube.

"How do I..." But before Chopper could ask Law interrupted him.

"Just go to her, she'll know what to do," He said while using his hat to hide himself away from view. Powering _Room_ to extend that further tired him out a bit, he definitely could use some rest by now.

The straw hat doctor silently nodded as he made her way towards Monet.

Normally she would fake surprise at her heart's recovery, instead she observed as Chopper came by her and, very shyly, gently handed her own heart.

"Did you mean it?" She asked quietly as possible. Chopper stared at confusion. "That you take responsibility for me?"

On any other occasion Chopper would feel very embarrassed and stutter a bit to answer such question, he could understand how meaningful such things could be. By looking at her, those very bright amber eyes and that saddening smile that was constantly over face, how fake she made herself towards the others, made the reindeer wonder for if the word 'Happy' marked over her green t-shirt could be any less meaningful as possible for someone to carry it.

"I do Monet," Chopper said somewhat solemnly. "I just...would you hate me for caring about you?"

The harpy was taken aback by this. It was an odd question for her at the very least. The only person she could imagine that would actually care about her would be Sugar. She realized how much conflicted this reindeer was about the whole deal, and probably he was wondering if she wasn't having an ever harder time with it.

"It was you? That gave me that paper?"

She did not respond it immediately, though she was half-tempted to turn around and ignore him. It still felt wrong to be talking casually with someone she marked as an enemy, especially if was an enemy of Joker's.

But why she was having so much difficulty seeing Chopper as a threat? Because he was weaker? Maybe, or it was something else?

Slowly taking her heart back she decided to give this reindeer the benefit of doubt.

"Yes, but I would rather have you not telling it to anyone else," She said rather gently, much to Chopper's astonishment. "There are powerful people back at Dressrosa that could make use of that information against me, and I'm not yet to change to anyone's side for no good reason."

Monet knew very well how much of a chance Violet would probably take over such information.

Without any warning she placed her wing over the edge of her shirt and lifted it up.

Needless to say chaos ensued right after.

"Oi, what the hell you think you're doing woman?!" Sanji asked enraged as he saw the harpy taking her shirt off, normally he wouldn't mind at all, but in front of Chopper and several children around it was other business. Everyone stared towards her direction, thankfully some Marines were smart enough to keep the children distracted from any obscene display.

"Yohohohoho, may I see your panties aswell?" Brook asked shortly before been kicked away by Sanji.

"Are you mad? What you're trying to prove here?!" Usopp asked while fighting panic, probably thinking she was about to use some secret weapon they were unaware off.

"Chopper, you pervert!" Luffy said without thinking while looking at the reindeer that was covering his face and looking away. Chopper did not expect her to do that, while fighting his own embarrassment at such display he felt a bit enraged by hearing Luffy accusing him of that.

"Shut up Luffy!I had nothing to do with that!"

"No, he didn't," Monet said calmly after adjusting her shirt back. It felt weird to place the heart back inside, but it gave a rather comforting feeling to her.

"What was all that about?" Nami asked puzzled while looking at both of them with suspicious. The navigator has been observing Chopper and Monet interacting for a while, it made her really worried about the reindeer, she did not want for Monet to take advantage of Chopper of some sorts.

"I was merely placing my heart back to where it belongs. I shall thank you for that Chopper," She said while giving an actual smile towards the reindeer. She had actually used his name!

"Shut up bastard, what are you thanking me for!?" He said while dancing around happily with a shy face. Monet was surprised to see how shy the reindeer was to compliments, though in a more 'energetic' way than she was. She did not expect they would actually have something in common.

Perhaps there was something of different about the Straw Hats after all.


	3. Chapter 3

_Blue Vanlock;_

 **Character development takes time, each one will came accord they came on the anime. Of course that with Monet's presence there will be some changes, and I definitely would make her think about herself.**

 _orca3553;_

 **Easy there bro, never said that.**

 _MusicOfMadness;_

 **Again thank you for pointing that out :) And I can't help but think other straw hats are still over protective about Chopper.**

 _Guest;_

 **Thank you!**

The echoing sounds of explosions came through the tunnel as they were reaching the end of it. The ground shook as the giant cart finally came to a stop. Without any delay Law immediately descended from the cart. Luffy came quickly after him, Smoker followed after both while everyone else came out at their own pace.

Monet wasn't in such a hurry. Her injuries still made difficult for her to move around smoothly as she was used to. Normally Sanji would've been the first to aid her, but incredibly Chopper beat him to it.

"Can you keep balanced?" He asked while staring at her elongated bird legs. The harpy merely huffed in response. She might not think it was worthy to treat the reindeer poorly, but she still had no reason to be nice either.

"I'll be better as long I stop moving without need," She remarked coolly. Chopper nodded while keeping at her side as a support. Such act felt rather embarrassing for Monet to handle it, even because she wasn't really sure if he did that cause he cared or because she needed.

"Hey Chopper, you got a bit of blood on your back. You better clean yourself once we get back to the ship, "Sanji said while walking nearby him. The blonde already checked over the Marines and the children before heading to the ship.

Zoro was also nearby, much to Monet's discomfort. The swordsman was carefully watching the surroundings as he tried to locate where Luffy went to. It seemed some conflict flared up near the Sunny. Whatever happened there surely couldn't be good. At least they knew that Franky was around to handle any situation.

"Right, thanks Sanji. I'll look about that later, " Chopper seemed more concerned about the bird woman than anything else, something that Sanji didn't fail to notice.

"Where you'll take her to?" He asked while making sure that Zoro was finally out of reach. The pirate hunter fled a moment earlier to go after Luffy.

"Sunny's sick bay."

"What's wrong with her?"

"That's the thing...I don't know. "

Sanji blinked for a second. Chopper's skills as a doctor were unquestionable, but if there was something wrong and he couldn't explain what it was, it only could mean it was very serious.

Once they reached near the Sunny they saw what looked like a recent formed battlefield zone on the shore. Far off to the right Franky was engaging whoever was attacking him, Luffy and Law were almost reaching at the cyborg.

Monet, being able to see very clearly at long distances, was able to discern Baby Five among the attackers. The harpy silently requested for Chopper to get her inside the ship faster.

She had very good reasons for not wanting to be seeing by any other members from the Don Quixote Family, she could buy herself some time if she gave away the impression of being killed if she disappeared all of sudden, especially considering the moment that Joker discovers that Vergo was gone.

Monet had no doubts that Joker would be infuriated, but he wouldn't make much of a deal if he thought she was dead. It's not like he would be looking after her to be sure. Joker would be focusing his attention on Law and the Straw Hats. If Monet was alive she would surely come back no matter how much later.

It was exactly this kind of self assurance that could prove to be a grave mistake.

She was curiously staring around as they made inside the ship, Monet had to admit that it was much more different from what she imagined. Whoever made the ship put a lot of work into it.

"Oi, Chopper, I'm jumping off and checking on everyone else. Can you handle from here?" Sanji asked while turning around and walking slowly towards the edge of the ship. The reindeer gave a short nod after the blonde finally gave a quick glance at him. "We'll be back soon."

Chopper took his patient upstairs straight to the sick bay, though he avoided the stairs and merely jumped to the door. Monet giggled a bit, something that made Chopper completely puzzled. Trying to fight the strange sensations he was feeling for a while he opened the door and took her inside.

"Not bad for a pirate ship, seems even the doctor gets a decent work office, " She said somewhat amused. Chopper couldn't help but feel really weird as she referred to him as doctor, it made him feel like a total stranger. To which some point he was, at least to her.

The reindeer requested for her to sit over the bed while he went to a desk nearby to grab some tools. She did as instructed, at least she could walk some meters on her own without needing someone to drag her.

The harpy watched him quietly as he muttered under his breath while making a fuss over his work desk. She took notice of the blood stain covering the fur at his back, more likely she bleed over him a bit while being carried away. Her eyes slowly studied the tall shape of the Zoan type with mild interest, she was curious why this man had chosen to be a reindeer instead of a stronger animal.

"You have some gashes that will take some time to heal, but I can tell there won't be any permanent scars," Chopper said while closing towards her with few bottles, though he stopped briefly as he saw she was laying over the bed instead of sitting over it.

"Hum..." Chopper raised an eyebrow at this sudden change of position, it's not like she was THAT hurt that she needed to lay down, still it was wiser to no say anything.

"Something wrong?" Monet asked somewhat seductively. The reindeer wondered if she was trying to make him nervous on purpose, and hated to admit she was managing to do so.

"Uh...no, n-nothing," He said while placing the bottles carefully on a smaller desk near the bed. "This might give you some burning sensations once applied, so I hope you don't mind a-

"Oh, it's that so?Well, it's not like I would mind having my wounds disinfected, who knows what might happen later?" She asked somewhat playfully. Chopper blinked in surprise.

"I guess you have some knowledge about medical procedures," He said carefully while looking for her wounds that he couldn't check before. Of course he tried his best to not look at places were she would feel 'uncomfortable' with.

"Ahn, doctor don't worry. I would mind having someone touching me after so long," She said with a creepy smile while, again, lifting her shirt off.

If Chopper was feeling a bit off before now he was totally out put. He felt his face reddening tremendously while looking the other way. This woman was not making things easier while saying inappropriate things when being checked. This is the kind of behavior Chopper never had deal with before on a patient.

"Monet, please stop, I'm trying to help you and you're not making things easier," The reindeer said somewhat frustrated.

"Oh, is that so? Sorry if I can't help about being...'happy'," She said with a giggle. Chopper grunted annoyed.

"Well, can't you keep less happy please?I really need to finish this up quick, I need to check my nakama,"

Monet obeyed him without any further objection. Chopper felt somewhat relieved, he really couldn't put up with that weird flirtatious stuff. Still he was somewhat interested about her bird limbs as he let his eyes wander towards her legs and wings at certain occasions, he could tell she knew he was staring at her, hopefully she wouldn't get the wrong idea. As if the reindeer would dare to go that far with someone that tried to kill his nakama just a couple of hours ago.

After brief minutes, in which they heard a commotion going outside, Chopper finally finished his tasks and went to gather his stuff and leave.

"I'll be back soon, I suggest you stay there in the bed, I can't tell if the wounds would re-open considering your anatomy is a bit...'different,'" Monet let out a chuckle.

"Says the reindeer man."

"Once we get back I'll see if Sanji can get something for you to eat. Are you hungry?" He asked feeling unnerved.

This caught the harpy off guard. It was one thing to having her wounds healed by her enemies, it was other totally different to be fed by them and given a place to stay. This was going a bit too far in her opinion.

"Aye, maybe a bit...can I ask you something?"

Chopper hesitated, he could guess this is the moment she would try to figure out something crucial about them, he could only hope he wouldn't give away nothing important.

"Yes."

"How old are you?"

Of all things she could have asked, this was NOT what Chopper was expecting at all!

"Hum..." He was seriously worried about this, she asked something about HIM, not the crew or the ship or anything they planned to do. What this women was planning after all?He cared about her health and all, but didn't mean he trusted her like that. "...twenty one."

"Oh?" Monet said somewhat mischievously. Her smile, that was somewhat creepy enough, got bigger as he stared at the reindeer with greater intensity. Chopper felt himself get smaller under that intense glare. Was she judging him somehow because of his age? "That will do."

Chopper almost let out a panic scream. That will do?!What was that supposed to mean!?What she was planning to do with him?!He was sweating cold already as he kept his eyes at her, his eyes had widened tremendously as she said that, much to Monet's contempt. She enjoyed playing with him, even if he didn't knew she had no intention of harm.

"Urrr...I-I g-gotta...l-later..." He said before closing the door and jumping away from the ship after his nakama.

Monet was somewhat relieved he left, she could finally gather her thoughts peacefully without the worry about being interrupted, at least it was much better without the spams of pain from the inflicted wounds around her body.

Judging by how quiet it was she could tell that Baby Five and whoever was with her got defeated, and they probably would be taking Caesar into the ship soon. Monet wasn't really sure how to go along the other Straw Hats, Usopp was already easy to deal with a few threatening words. Sanji was even easier to deal with, judging by how easily he would bent himself for a woman.

Zoro...

The bird women felt chills going over her spine just over thinking about that cursed man. She still could not understand how he paralyzed her, she was totally assured she could stand a fight against him, still somehow he struck her in a way that deeply disturbed her. The Straw Hats had changed way more than she assumed, a mistake she wouldn't make twice. One day she would get even with the swordsman.

Nami seemed totally doubtful about her presence on the ship, but nothing that Monet couldn't know on how to deal with, anything involving lots of money could get over Nami easy as Sanji would over women.

Nico Robin was one Monet had no idea how to figure it out, but the archaeologist seemed to share some traces of personality with the harpy. Maybe with time Monet would get to know her better.

Franky and Brook were two of those she had no idea what they were like, maybe her staying at their ship would give away any clue on how to deal with those two.

Luffy was totally unpredictable, she had no idea what to expect from him. He was far off from any pirate captain she has ever seen before. Still she could rest assured he was one to make good of everything he could, maybe this carefree way of his could be easily exploited.

Chopper...

Monet wasn't sure in which ground she stood with Chopper. He was kind and concerned, not only about his nakama, but any of those around him he could reach himself for their aid. While being somewhat irresponsible to a certain degree and rather childish at others, much to Monet's surprise and somewhat delight. He did share some traces of personality that she though were unique about herself. They both were animals in their on concept, he was Zoan but originally an animal( something she didn't know yet), she was half human half bird and carried the powers of Logia. They both were childish and shy to compliments, each behaving on their own way about it.

Chopper was heavily instructed on medical area, while Monet was somewhat basic on it, she had to thank Law about the lots she learned about it from what he was dispose to teach her.

Monet had enough time to study the room around her, for a sick bay it more resembled a library, considering the amount of books gather at certain corners of it. Seems the reindeer had a great likening about reading, much to her utter astonishment. What else did he like that she did as well?

He was younger than her, but not that much younger, still somewhat around Sugar's age.

"Urgh, why I am thinking that much about him? I should be thinking about killing them, not tagging along..."

But then could she really bring herself to harm the reindeer? She felt like she couldn't, not anymore. The others she really didn't mind much, but still they were part of the crew just as much as him. Why couldn't she stop thinking about what would happen once they reached Dressrosa? She knew it was a death sentence to go there, did the mugiwara believed himself to be that strong to defeat Joker and the others?

As much as she wanted to believe he could, she felt wrong about letting this happen somehow, she was loyal to Joker, no matter how little he cared about her at the moment, he was kind enough to save her and Sugar years ago. But what now?Maybe Monet was expendable, but still she doubted he would value Sugar a lot, it was thanks to Sugar his plans lasted this far.

He was going to be the King of Pirates, it was for this great honor she would willingly sacrifice to his cause. She owned him a life debt.

But she also owned Chopper the same.

"Why couldn't you just let me die there?" She said to herself while feeling agonized by this conflicting decision.

Perhaps this would be an easier choice if Luffy was the one who saved her, then she could feel somewhat assured of which path to take. Instead it was one of his crew members that did such, so she couldn't not bring herself to make a decision.

And still she knew Sugar would need to be directly involved on whatever she decided to do, Monet was granted a third chance and she wouldn't waste it by leaving Sugar behind. Monet was too concerned about her sister, even if Sugar was old enough to take of herself. The harpy was terrified about what Joker could to with Sugar if he ever came to find out Monet was with the Straw Hats, willingly or not.

She allowed her head to rest over the soft pillow, less important concerns coming into mind. One of them being the fact she really needed a bath as soon as she could, it was not like bird limbs make it any easier. Perhaps it was the only aspect of this change she regretted.

She loved birds and have been always fascinated by them, she read enough books to discover about mythological harpies, along with dragons, which was one that truly caught her interest, but it saddened her to think such creatures didn't exist anymore. That until Law came into the picture and made a business offer, one she just couldn't help but take some advantage of, even if it almost costed her life. She knew it was extremely foolish to give her hearth away, but how many chances she would get of making a dream come true?

It was with the uttermost joy she ever felt in her life when she first flew, the sensation of it being nothing like she ever experienced before. She felt, for the shortest and single moment of her life, truly happy.

Monet couldn't help but wonder if she would ever feel like that again.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm glad to announce I'm back after a very difficult month, thank you all for the reviews and kind words :P And I'll try to keep this going like before.**

 **To the reviews!**

 **orca3553**

 _Oh well I guess it does..._

 **crushvox;**

 _Lol!Ok..._

 **Blue VanLocke;**

 _Does everyone believe this is a CxM just cause they interact that much at the start?I've never seen anyone assume that when Nico Robin came to the crew..._

 **Zaralann;**

 _1- Oh wow, first thing that came into mind was sex then, and he's an anthro reindeer while Monet is an anthro bird, just to be fair._

 _2- A friendly bond is always nice. I'm trying already..._

 _3- Agreed!_

 **Krasher;**

 _Well...I totally understand your point of view about this. I like to keep things in character when it comes to stories like this one. Also I just can't stand immature Chopper anymore, urgh. I liked him better before the 2 years time skip. Monet deserve better to be honest so I'm might try to kill two birds with one stone in this story._

Slowly she managed to open her eyes as she felt a strange, yet familiar, sensation around her body. Monet went unaware for few seconds, until she finally realized the ship she was currently being kept was already sailing.

The harpy did not expect to have fallen asleep like she did, it was a very surreal situation to deal with. When Monet could ever expect she would sleep aboard the Straw Hats ship? The fact she was still alive was quite a feat after all that happened at Punk Hazard.

Perhaps she underestimated many things about the Straw Hats, from their captain to their doctor. She was right to assume they have become much stronger after two years, but she never would figure them to be so...noble.

Such a word to describe pirates, they are distrustful even among their own kind. She had no reason to believe the Straw Hats to be different.

How wrong she was.

"Monet…are you awake?"

The bird woman slowly raised her head to have a clear view of the reindeer that was standing near the wooden door. His expression was clearly tense and somewhat curious.

"I am now," The harpy responded melancholically.

"You've been sleeping for few hours now, you must be hungry..." He said somewhat unsure.

A very accurate assumption in Monet's opinion. She was half-tempted to ask what he did have in mind for her to eat, although the possibility of having a 'healthy' meal filled with nutrients described by typical doctors made her a bit doubtful, at least she was aware that Chopper was anything but typical.

"Yes I am. How many carrots and apples do you imagine I have to eat until I get healthy?" She asked ironically, Chopper was sweatdropping a bit while thinking carefully on an answer.

"Huh…..none, it's not exactly something Sanji would limit himself to do for you, he's probably thinking on something fancy."

"Oh?It's that so? So I don't have to go on a diet? Do I look decent enough?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yes," Responded the reindeer carelessly. Monet glared at him intensely, it was hard for her to tell if Chopper said that just because he was naïve or he actually mean it.

The bird woman let out a heavy sigh while resting her head back to the pillow. This bed was not exactly made to fit her size, her talons were going way over the board and resting over another pillow placed over a small table.

She could sense Chopper staring at her, she felt rather uncomfortable.

"Why did you switch your body parts?" He asked bluntly. Monet chuckled.

"Now that's a quite personal question, why would you think I did?" Chopper relaxed a bit, at least she didn't react to that question badly as he feared, the doctor allowed himself to take a seat near the harpy.

Monet realized that the reindeer was still on his tall bipedal form which puzzled her, wasn't he actually much smaller than that? Did he forgot to change?

She hated to admit but she liked that appearance much more.

"I don't know, but something tells me Law has something to do with this, otherwise I don't see how this would be possible to accomplish by other means,"

"Oh, a smart one aren't you? That's right, this is something I required a special favor from Law in exchange of my heart. A good deal at most."

"Good deal? If something happened with your heart it would've cost your life. How it's that a good deal?" Chopper was utterly shocked she would think such.

"Well, isn't worthy to risk your life to accomplish a dream, even foolish ones?" She asked serenely.

For that Chopper had no answer.

"What did you do with the original body parts?" The reindeer asked while checking over some notes he wrote during the time the bird woman was sleeping. It was only then that he realized the unusual amount of misspelling.

"You don't want to know," Was all she said before locking her golden eyes over him. Chopper gulped audibly.

"Hum….okay…..I….going to check my nakama. Sanji will bring you something soon,"

"I suppose I'll be encaged on the basement once I get a check-up?" She asked rather humorously. At this the reindeer tensed again.

"Not really. Luffy said you're free to go wherever you want. Caesar is our prisoner, not you."

This caught her by surprise again, she just couldn't believe the Straw Hat's captain would let her go just like that. She spent few minutes trying to analyze Chopper's behavior while wondering where the lie was laying in, but the only thing she got from him was worry and bit of sorrow.

"Law wasn't happy with that decision," She said as a matter-of-fact. Chopper shook his head.

"No, definitely not. Though I would say Nami and Usopp were even madder, and Caesar called you names and other things that earned him a bit of a beating from Sanji."

"Hum, I couldn't care less about what Caesar thinks of me, but since Joker ordered me to take care of him I had to deal with it for quite a long time," Slowly she tried to move her body to sit at the edge of the bed, quite a feat without kicking the reindeer on the process.

"There was an unusual scar across your chest, it took me a lot to dissolve it," Chopper pointed out while he observed as Monet stretched herself, her wingspan was truly amazing. "From what I could tell it was caused by a sword…."

Monet went stiff for a second, slowly she closed her wings while thinking carefully about how to respond. She was a bit doubtful on what would happen if she told Chopper the true, in a way this could reach that blond cook quickly and soon there would be conflict between him and the swordsman Zoro. Rather she decided not to mention anything about it, she could make her way easier around this without sparking any conflicts. Still it was tempting.

"It was, but nothing really fatal," She said casually.

"Monet, that scar went from the front of your chest until your back, if I could say different I would but basically you've been cut in half," Chopper was alarmed by now and definitely did not believe her words.

The harpy stood quiet for a second. There was hardly a way to get out of this without someone making a fuss about it later, most likely the cook. Also those words stung her pride hard.

"I'm fine now, ain't I? You should not worry that much, besides for how long do I have to stay here?" The harpy slowly stood on her feet and so did Chopper, the reindeer was still apprehensive about what to expect from Monet.

"Well, at least until you get something to eat I guess..."

"Can I go out now?" She asked while moving towards the door. Chopper was growing tense at each second, unsure of how to deal with this situation.

"Yes, yes you can…"

Without looking back the harpy moved towards the door with determination, but paused once her wing touched the doorknob. She quickly glanced back and saw the reindeer staring thoughtfully at the wall, maybe it was her imagination but he actually seemed disappointed. Maybe she forgot to say something?

"Why don't you go first?I don't think I've meet with all your crewmembers yet…" Monet said suggestively.

The reindeer seemed taken aback but complied quickly as he made his way to the door without hesitation.

"That would be…a good idea," Chopper felt that saying 'nice' wasn't exactly a word that Monet would go along with.

He barely opened the door when something came falling from the other side of it.

"Ouch! Dammit! Stupid do-

"Usopp?" Asked Chopper while looking at him clearly surprised. Took no longer he briefly saw Luffy and Sanji at each side of the door while trying to hid behind the wooden walls. "You guys were trying to spy on us?"

"What? Noooooo, of course not! The great marksman Usopp has an infinite audition that can reach until the skies above! I was just about to knock when the door opened," Usopp said while faking a strong laugh.

"For how long were you three listening?" Asked Monet severely. Usopp felt sweat coming down his face as he nervously responded.

"Err…not that long…just a minute maybe…STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

"Gez, take it easy Usopp, no need to yell at the lady like that," Sanji said while coming out of his hiding spot while Luffy fell over Usopp after descending carelessly from where he was hiding.

"Luffy you idiot! Get off me!"

"Hahahahah, my bad Usopp,"

Monet calmly observed as the three of them spent few minutes arguing with each other, she hardly could believe they were the ones that caused so much havoc around the seas and defied the World Government so openly. For them to be so carefree and without any worry just like that…..just unbelievable.

Monkey D. Luffy. So many incredible feats with just few years on the seas…how could she not admire his accomplishments? For someone that young like him to have reached that far with the innocent sense of adventure still preserved. One Piece, that what he was looking for, that was his dream, being the King of Pirates was a solid objective. What about the other crewmembers? What their dreams were about?

Did she had a dream?

"Hey Monet! How are ya?! Chopper kept us away so you could rest, do you feel better?" Luffy asked while coming in front of her and leaving Usopp and Sanji talking among themselves.

The harpy wasn't exactly expecting such enthusiasm from their captain, as if she was an old friend he saw long ago and missed dearly.

"Better, I suppose. Is Caesar still alive then?" She asked while trying to move outside without dragging much attention from Usopp and Sanji, but due her anatomy that was impossible.

"How is my angel today?" Asked Sanji courteously while after coming by their side. "I imagine you must be hungry, but I already have something special ready just for you."

 _'Urgh, and I thought I was the flirtatious one,'_ "That sounds nice, I'll be looking forward to it. _'Better play nice, even if some of them are hard to tolerate,'_ Sanji was easy to deal with just by smiling at him, he would melt at her wishes without second though.

While descending the stairs gracefully she met with the rest of the crew at the lower deck. Quite a rare view when she saw a skeleton playing with a guitar. 'Unusual' was the best word to define everything in this ship.

The cyborg she didn't remember clearly, though she knew his name was Franky, probably the one that fought Baby Five without difficulty.

Nico Robin and Nami were sitting at a small table while observing the harpy carefully, though the way Robin observed was way more discreet. Nami was openly staring daggers at Monet.

It was when the harpy remembered the incident at the Biscuit Room, in which she fought Chopper, Robin and Nami. Of course, just as Zoro was kind enough to put, she decided to attack the weaker ones first.

A fair tactic in Monet's view, it forced Robin to distract herself and get injured nearly fatally. Monet fought Luffy previously and nearly bested him, so what gives? She tried the same approach once Zoro got on her way, of course it didn't work but kept him busy. What Monet hated about Zoro was not the fact he called her a coward by attacking weaker opponents, what bothered her is how easily the swordsman defeated her.

Being called coward by a man who decided to cut a woman in half was ironic.

How? How did he paralyzed her? It was some sort of secret Haki ability? It has to be, how else she would get stuck like that? Zoro wasn't a Devil Fruit user after all.

"Oi Luffy, what's she doing down here? Do you have any idea how dangerous she is?" Nami asked angrily while directing herself towards her captain.

"Húh? Chopper said she was good enough, so I think she could take some fresh air. OI SANJI, I'M HUNGRY!"

"I'm right next to you stupid jerk, there's no need to yell!" The cook replied angrily. He blew a smoke of cigar right at Luffy's face, the Straw-Hat boy coughed heavily. "It's getting dark anyways, I'll have dinner ready soon. Momonosuke and Kin' emon are already sleeping, they seemed tired after all that happened. Keep the voice down idiots."

"Hey Monet, how come you have wings? I wish I could fly, that would be awesome!" Luffy said excitedly, much to the Harpy's astonishment. Why was he treating her so friendly like that? How can he be so carefree near a person that nearly murdered him? Was this boy some kind of strange enigma only the most powerful of beings would be able to understand?

Or he was just a big fool?

"You don't need wings, you can stretch all the way, why would you need wings?" Usopp questioned while frowning at his captain. "Do you believe this guy?"

That question being direct at Monet, which took her aback completely. Had the long nose already forgot how much of a treat she was? Did they underestimated the danger she possessed?

Or they felt they could trust her?

"Well…..I guess he's always looking for the nice things, can't blame him for being a bit jealous. I wouldn't trade my wings for anything in this world. Flying is simply unique."

Usopp raised an eyebrow at her and seemed to relax a bit more, apparently she succeed on easing his nerves around her. Of course he had his suspicious, but as long she kept that fake smile of hers she would go through this without problems.

At least that's what she hoped before her eyes falling over Law, that man was crouched near the base of the main mast. His eyes hidden by his hat, but she knew he was aware of everything happening around him. Not much far from him she saw Caesar chained, thankfully the sorry excuse of a scientist was already sleeping and snoring loudly.

"Yohohoho, you must be the one of our guests that was at the med-bay, a pleasure madam, my name's Brook," The skeleton said while passing by her.

"Yeah, it's so-

"May I see your panties?" He interrupted her while closing his creepy face over her.

Monet was very tempted to kick the pervert skeleton over the board of the ship. He most likely would drown since he was a Devil Fruit user, but since he was only a skeleton she had her doubts how much effective that would be.

Before Monet could reply a swift kick from Nami sent Brook flying towards the nearest wall.

"Seriously," Nami scoffed while adjusting her leg back.

"I guess I should thank you," Monet said without looking at her. "I was going to do that, but I'm not really in position of doing such things, not the best course of action,"

"Well, I'm glad to know someone else in this ship actually thinks before acting," The navigator replied formally. "It's quite a change from the usual idiots like Zoro, Luffy and Brook. Franky is decent to some level, Usopp just tries to get out of the way if he can, I call that smart move most times. Chopper is just silly. Urgh….men."

"Silly?" This intrigued the harpy. "How so?"

"Well, he's….how can I say it?...immature most times," Nami seemed a bit unsure of how to describe the reindeer. "He's really smart, considering the things he accomplished and how much he learned, and he's Robin's reading partner after all."

"So it seems few others, I could consider myself childish sometimes," Monet was actually feeling comfortable with this conversation, perhaps the lack of having another woman to talk with after so long had something to do with it.

"You? Hard to believe, but I guess we'll find out. Unless you decide to leave already, Law said you work for Doflamingo," Nami was a bit worried now, she knew Monet was strong, the fact the harpy also worked for Doflamingo made her even more dangerous.

Nami and Chopper had a bit of argument after the harpy fell asleep once they set sail. Nami reminded Chopper what happened last time he brought an unknown injured man aboard the ship and that almost cost them greatly.

Of course Nami didn't mean to upset the reindeer, she was just trying to make him understand that this was one of those situations, she never questioned his good deeds.

Still the navigator was surprised that Chopper did not developed some kind of angst towards the harpy, especially considering how worried the reindeer got with the children that were being kept prisoner back at Punk Hazard. The fact that Monet collaborated on the experiences realized on the kids made the orange hair girl even more confused about why Chopper decided to worry about the harpy so much.

Perhaps he knew something they didn't?

So far Monet has kept in line, now they would gather along for diner and the harpy would come along with them, liked her or not.

Perhaps at this occasion they would know if they could trust her or not.

"Yes I work for him, but then I did the same for Caesar…..who knows?" The bird woman responded before turning around and moving towards the kitchen room.

A pondering question with many possible answers.

Who would know?


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Glad to be back after a long week!Thanks for the support folks and now we shall proceed with the story, but first...**

 _orca3553;_

 **Thanks, glad to have you around!**

 _Blue VanLocke;_

 **Definitely it is!**

 **Perhaps this chapter you may find something to write then :P**

The atmosphere in the kitchen was very light from what Monet could ever expect, to say they were having a party was most likely.

The scent of delicious food caught her off guard. It's been so long since she tasted anything decent once she left Dressrosa. To see that table filled with the most amazing stuff she has ever seen in a while made her desire to leave immediately dissipate a bit.

"Ah, Monet, just in time, I'll be serving your plate soon," Sanji announced from his cooking area behind the balcony. The harpy shot a quick glance at him, it was a wonder how he could cook all this stuff so fast and don't make a single mess over himself and the balcony.

She hated to admit but she was looking forward to get whatever food they had, she carefully took a seat as far as possible from the others, not only to isolate herself but she really needed the extra space to move her wings.

Unfortunately someone else decided to sit at the other side of the table near her.

"I hope you don't mind some company," Robin said as she laid down a book near her plate. Monet avoided eye contact the best she could. Not that she didn't want to talk with that mysterious woman, but the fact the harpy nearly impaled her to death hours ago didn't make the situation comfortable at all. "I sure needed the first time I came into this ship."

This brought Monet's attention towards the woman sitting in front of her. From all the Straw Hats she made a study about, perhaps Nico Robin was the closest match of personality when comparing with the harpy. At least Monet believe it so until she meet Chopper.

"Perhaps the first time was this explosive as mine?" Monet wondered while watching a mess developing at the far other side of the table.

"At least you had someone to support you more firmly than I had, when I came in everyone was afraid and suspicious, Luffy being the obvious exception. It took me a while to have a more friendly interaction with one of them," Robin said while taking a piece of cooked meat.

"And that first one was?" Asked Monet saving the guess for herself. Robin chuckled.

"Chopper of course. I have to say it was much harder for him to deal with this kind of thing at that time. He was very young to the seas and the rest of the world, from what I learned he only leaved his homeland for the first time few days before we meet. The conflict on Alabasta was quite an experience to his character. It was hard for him to know who he could trust."

"I imagine he didn't have much of a choice if you two ended alone somewhere?" Monet asked while trying to keep her face serious. This was just too suggestive. Robin laughed a bit.

"Now that I think about it, that really sounds weird," The archeologist took a quick glance at her nakama. Luffy tried to steal the food from the others, now he was paying dearly with punches from Zoro and Usopp. "But again, weren't you two alone for few times?"

This set the harpy on the edge.

"What's that supposed to mean?I have nothing to do with him," Monet responded while sounding almost challenging. Robin took a moment to answer this time.

"Still you're in debt, the least you could is help him somehow. Caesar is our prisoner, but since you're not you need to do something useful in the ship to earn anything. Each crew member has a functionality for this ship,"

"I'm not part of this crew," Responded the harpy harshly.

"Still you're in the ship, crew member or not," Robin responded as if was the most simple thing in the world. That calm and serene behavior of her managed to keep Monet's temper down despite her nervousness.

"What exactly do you want me to do? I'm not really looking forward to sweep any floors, and why I am even thinking of that if I could just leave?" Monet wondered angrily while glaring at the dark haired women.

"Do you wish to leave?"

"Ye-

Monet interrupted herself. That question touched a delicate subject once analyzed on bigger proportions.

Going back to Dressrosa wasn't a very interesting option, even if her younger sister was there. The shadow of Doflamingo covered everything at this side of the seas. She wouldn't get anywhere without Joker finding out. The place he least would suspected was exactly the Straw Hats ship. Monet simply had nowhere to go.

"I don't know," Admitted the harpy quietly. "I really don't know what to do,"

Robin observed quietly as Monet stared sadly at the wooden table, perhaps Monet had a bigger dilemma about Joker than Robin could've imagine.

"Do you have any dreams?"

An even trickier question, Monet stood quiet while wondering if she really did have a dream after all. After what seemed minutes she managed to found an answer.

"Objectives maybe, not dreams…..none,"

This surprised Robin a bit, a person without dreams wouldn't never get too far in this world.

"Why don't you take your time here and maybe you'll find one? Definitely it's much easier to think about it when you're not trying to hide who you truly are from everyone else around you," Robin suggested before raising from her seat with an empty plate. Monet blinked at confusion, how had the archeologist ate her food so fast? Only then Monet realized there was already a plate of food in front of her the whole time and she didn't even notice.

Never she had been this bad at her awareness, could this more relaxed atmosphere be making her relax too?

Or she actually felt safe enough to trust the environment around her?

"Doctor-san, can you come here for a second?" Robin called the reindeer from the other side of the table, he seemed somewhat distracted but heard Robin's call. With two steps he reached the other side of the table thanks his taller form. "Why you're still using jumping point after so long?"

"Húh? Oh yeah, that….I really don't know…." He said while glancing around nervously. "I think I grew used with it." Robin couldn't help but snort at the inadvertent pun.

"Well, anyways, I was talking with Monet about her functionality in the ship. Do you have any field of experience Monet?" Robin asked turning her head around towards the harpy.

"Lab field and espionage, sabotage, and few others that I don't think will fit here," She said rather coolly.

"Lab field? So you do have experience with medical and vet areas?" Chopper asked rather interested. Monet nodded. "Perhaps…"

"Perhaps what?" The harpy asked while gazing firmly at the reindeer.

"Well, I could use someone to help me with the med-bay. I have so many theories to work with, I hardly find time to organize that mess over my desk and check on the crew constantly as I should. It's hard to get some free time…" Chopper's tone was suggestive. Monet was between laughing and yelling.

"You want me to be your nurse?" She asked sounding disgusted.

"I didn't say that," Chopper tried to defend himself but to no avail.

"Assistant? Partner? Servant? What else then?" The harpy's voice was slowly getting lower and icy.

The reindeer was nervous about what to do, he stared at Robin looking for support.

"Perhaps partner it's the most fitting thing for now, I don't think Cook-san would survive a heart attack if we had you as nurse," Robin said while smiling friendly. Monet raised an eyebrow.

"Do I least get to participate on anything else if something bad happens?"

"Such as?"

"A fight of some sorts, you can't really expect me to sit and watch everyone else having fun. I've been stuck for too long in that lab, I didn't develop my abilities as I wanted to."

Now this caught Zoro's interest. While the three of them were talking among themselves the swordsman has been sitting at the mid of the table listening the whole deal. So Monet could develop her abilities much further than what they saw, he could easily imagine that the harpy would reach at least Sanji's level without much problem, being a Logia type would help immensely on that. The only doubt was where her loyalty resided. She could become a great add for the crew if she wanted to.

"That's up for the captain, we are not forbidding you of doing anything Monet, we just need to know how much we can trust you,"

"Why would you trust me? Why would I want to be trusted by any of you?" She asked looking undignified.

"Because you need people you know you can rely on during difficult times, as so do we need to know we can rely on you when we need."

Monet paused her fork while thinking carefully about this. She did not intend to join the Straw Hats, but she's been given free pass aboard the ship as long she could cooperate with their routine. Her loyalty was with Joker, but they weren't asking for her to be loyal, just for her to help, just as she needed their help.

For now it was a fair deal.

"Fine, I'll do what I can," Monet said firmly. "Just don't forget to tell me where I can take a bath and sleep."

Robin seemed quite satisfied with that answer, she slowly turned around to meet with the rest of her nakama, but not before saying few last words.

"Chopper will be most than happy to assist you on that matter, have a good night Monet,"

The reindeer muttered something under his breath after he was sure the archeologist was out of range. Thankfully this went unnoticed by the harpy.

Monet felt that sense of surrealism possess her for a second, it was unbelievable that she just agreed on helping the Straw Hats, even if not defined for how long.

"Once you finish your food I'll take you to your room, I'll be waiting outside," Chopper said before turning around to leave.

"Thank you….Tony,"

Chopper stopped very slightly and turned around a bit startled towards Monet. Very rarely anyone ever called him by the first name, such coming from Monet was quite an occurrence that he hardly would forget.

Just by looking at her eyes he could see how honest she was about what she said.

"You….you're welcome…."

Chopper slowly turned around and went outside of the kitchen room. The others had finish their own meals and left earlier. The only person left aside Monet was Sanji.

The cook was washing the rest of the plates and cups left, he seemed somewhat relaxed while keeping his eyes focused on the balcony. For someone that was annoying her to no end hours ago Monet felt a bit relieved the cook wasn't flirting with her again.

"Robin-chan is right, we could use some extra help aboard the ship. I really don't see a reason for you to think this is a bad idea, of course I won't judge you because you work for Doflamingo. It's not like you really wanted to, right?"

Monet felt the seriousness in his voice this time, she stared at him briefly while eating. The food tasted so great that she nearly lost the focus on what he said.

"Joker saved me and my sister from a…..difficult time. We've a debt to him,"

"How long this debt lasts?" Sanji asked out of pure curiosity. Monet wondered that for a second. Was it really a life debt like she always believed?

"I don't know," The kitchen room went very quiet for a whole minute before anything was said.

"I see…" Sanji finally said after standing quiet thinking over her words carefully. "…but you have a similar debt with Chopper, isn't that right?" He asked, looking straight at her this time.

"Yes, I do," She said unsure of what the cook was trying to get at.

"What I mean is that if you have a life debt with Chopper, but also had one with Doflamingo, and normally Doflamingo is our enemy by now…..wouldn't one debt neutralize the other? Both sides have saved you. So this means you do have a choice to do, overall you're free to go wherever you want."

Monet felt like she's been hit by a frying pan. That actually sounded decent enough in a sense. She had debts for both sides, which means she does have a choice to make. There was only one problem.

"My sister still has a debt, I can't leave her," Monet said with some sadness. Perhaps having a choice was too much to ask for.

"Well, if you choose to join us you can save your sister and she also will have that choice. This may sound crazy but it's quite simple, it's only up to you now. Changing takes time, so I suggest you take yours."

"Joining your crew isn't a thing to be discussed with the captain?" For the first time Monet took into consideration this possibility.

Sanji chuckled while moving around the balcony towards the door. He stopped briefly to light up a cigar.

"Well…it's not like it's been already decided…but I think that he would like you to join the crew, it's just up to you like I said."

With that Sanji opened the door and left Monet alone with her thoughts. The harpy was truly astonished with everything they've said, to think these people were willing to give her a second chance was almost overwhelming.

To think that few of them would like her around was simply too much to deal with, she hated to admit but she was afraid about this whole deal. What if it isn't what it looks? What if Joker finds out? What would happen with Sugar?

And worse….how could Monet risk seeing people like Robin, Nami, Sanji, Luffy dying if they decided to fight Doflamingo and the others?

Would she risk their lifes? Would she risk seeing her sister dying? Would she risk seeing Chopper die?

The price of freedom would come eventually, but now...

She did have a choice for the first time, despite her fears she actually felt that little bit of feeling that she haven't felt for years.

Happiness.

After few minutes Monet left the kitchen room and met with the reindeer outside, just as instructed Chopper presented Monet to her room and the bath area. Much to Monet's delight both fit perfectly her needs. She also received instructions of what to do for the next few days of routine. Helping the reindeer was one of the main tasks, the other tasks seemed fairly decent for her, at least no moping the floor to her. Chopper assured her saying that physic tasks were reserved for the male crew members.

"Does this imply I'm weak?" Monet asked somewhat sarcastically. Chopper sweatdropped.

"Hum…no, it's just a matter of courtesy…." The reindeer said feeling the word coming out weirdly of his mouth. Monet chuckled.

"Oh, I suppose it is then. I just reminded that my glasses were left behind, I really need them to read since I'm farsighted."

"Really?" Chopper's been fooled thinking Monet had a very good vision because her eyes resembled those of a predator. "Oh, I'll make an exam on you tomorrow, we'll get you new glasses as soon we reach the next island."

"Which would be pointless since it's probably Dressrosa," Monet felt exasperated. Chopper sighed.

"Well, Robin uses glasses and so does Nami sometimes, I can check their lens and see if any fits for you,"

"That would be nice, thank you," Monet said politely.

Few seconds of awkwardness passed by with them staring at each other, at least Monet was staring, Chopper would always glance at her sides as if afraid of getting his eyes burned by looking at the harpy.

"So…..what do you think?" Asked the reindeer timidly.

"Think about what?" Replied the harpy clueless.

"About joining the crew. Would you like to do that? I don't mean to push you about it, I'm just curious," He added quickly before Monet could reply.

The harpy stood silent while wondering exactly what to say about that.

"Perhaps. I have a lot to think about it. Like I said before, I'll be getting myself into a very difficult position if I do that, especially my sister,"

"Sister? Is she at Dressrosa?" Chopper wasn't expecting that Monet would also have family members involved with Doflamingo.

"Yes, her name is Sugar, she's about a year younger than you," Monet said with a genuine smile on her face. "I'm worried about her, but I'm sure Joker won't do anything because her powers allow him to keep the kingdom under control. Even if…"

Monet's voice died along the way, she just notice the shy smile Chopper had on his face while looking at her.

"Something funny?"

"No, no, no!" He said quickly while blushing furiously. "It's just that….it's the first time I see you smile after we meet,"

This confused the bird woman tremendously.

"What you're talking about? I've smiled dozens of times before we got here," She said defensively. Chopper scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Well….you actually look happy this time,"

He could actually notice that difference? This amazed her to no end, how could he know? It was some kind of animal instinct?

Speaking of it….

"Why did you choose the reindeer form?" She suddenly asked surprising him. Chopper felt instantly worried about answering that.

"I didn't. I was a reindeer since birth, but then I ate a Devil Fruit and gained physical characteristics and abilities of a human. The best word to describe would be anthro."

If Monet was seeing Chopper different during the last hours now her view has been totally changed from what she just heard. So he was a pure animal before!

"Tony," Monet's voice sounded much softer than Chopper ever heard before. "Why did you decide to join their crew?"

"Because they would never give up of me, I knew they would care and help me no matter what," Chopper replied almost instantly. "They don't leave their own behind, Enies Lobby is the solid proof of it."

Enies Lobby incident is something the whole World knew about, Monet read about it countless times but she hardly believed the story that was wrote on the papers.

"So all that…..to save one of your nakama?

This is the kind of support she could expect from them during a difficult time? Would they go that far to help their own? This is what Robin was talking about?

"Yes, that was one of the many things we did for each other," Chopper said rather proudly.

The more she heard, the more doubtful Monet felt about her loyalty towards Joker. When he ever helped her aside saving her and her sister? Perhaps that occasion in which she was given a Devil Fruit, but that's it.

Could she really find much more along the Straw Hats?

"I see..." She slowly made her way around and went back inside her room. "…hum…I think there's some other stuff I'll need while I'm here."

"So you're not leaving?" Chopper said with a slight bit of excitement, though he quickly regained his posture. The harpy watched that reaction with curiosity, she couldn't remember when was the last time someone would be happy about having her around.

"For now, can you find those items for me? I would be most thankful for it,"

"Yes, of course, I'll do the best I can," The reindeer turned around and walked away through the corridor. "Good night Monet,"

"Good night Tony," She said before closing the door. Again Chopper felt weird by being called by his first name, probably something he would now have to get used to.

The reindeer made his way up the corridor, his room being close by.

"Chopper, can we talk for a second?" Said Nami while peeking through her own door.

"Eh, sure. I'm coming," He said while turning around and entering Nami's room once she gave him enough space to enter.

"Why you're still in jumping point? I would expect you to be at regular size by now," Nami wondered aloud at him.

"Why everyone is asking that? Is there something wrong with this one?" The reindeer seemed rather intrigued by all this questioning over his taller form.

"No, not at all. It's just we got used with the smaller one I guess…" The navigator responded feeling a bit silly by questioning Chopper's appearance. "Anyways, what do you think about Monet? Can we trust her?"

"Do you?" Chopper asked back while looking at her worriedly. Nami was clearly concerned about the harpy staying on the ship, but she still had to decide whether it would be a good thing to have Monet around or not.

"I just don't understand how you don't have some resentment towards her because of the children back at Punk Hazard."

"Because I have all the reason to believe that Monet did care about the children after all, she was the one who gave me the paper so I could find the antidote for the poison made for them," This was a piece of info that puzzled Nami.

"She helped you?...well, I guess that's a good thing to know about. It means she's not heartless as she appears to be. Still I'm not really sure she'll change sides that easily, for her to trust us may be easier, but for all of us to trust her it's a much bigger deal."

"I know Nami, but still she needs a chance. I don't know why not give it to her, she proved to be greatly skilled, strong and intelligent."

Nami stared at the reindeer with both eyes widened.

"I've never heard you throw so many qualities at someone since Dra. Kureha," She said with a tone of voice clearly suspicious. "What's the deal Chopper?"

"Deal? What deal?" Chopper was finding this conversation to be going on a very turbulent road. Just the mention of doctorine was enough to mess a bit with his nerves.

"Well, between you and Monet. Are you…..I dunno, in love?"

"Lo…..what?! Nami, what just you…..no!" Chopper seemed terrified of what he's just been asked about. "How can you say that?!" Nami held her hands up defensively requesting for Chopper to calm down.

"Sorry, I was just wondering. I mean there's nothing to be ashamed of," She said while taking a step back instinctively. "I mean, you're a guy and-

"She's human! I don't have any interest on a love relationship with a human!" The reindeer was getting quickly upset.

"Well, she's half-human….just like you,"

That was it for Chopper, he quickly turned around and opened the door abruptly, leaving Nami's room without looking back. The navigator stood speechless, she never saw the reindeer behave like this before, normally he would be incredible shy about such and behave with silliness over it.

This Chopper was incredible mad and in pure denial of everything, feeling insulted Nami believed he helped the harpy for personal reasons, questioning his good intentions.

Perhaps Chopper was really growing up.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Glad to the back, sorry for this delay, but I was inspired this time, though internet issues...**

 **orca3553;**

 _Thanks!_

 **Blue VanLocke**

 _Glad you like it! Yeah I don't like the new forms either. I think I misjudged their ages a bit but that's been already fixed, thanks for the heads up!_

 **MusicOfMadness**

 _Totally understandable, sorry if this is a bit weird, but you know...different stuff it's always harder to deal with. I hope I can keep the story in check at least._

 **Krasher;**

 _Me too :P Ant I'm really thankful for the support._

 **Guest;**

 _I guess so...lol._

The next day came around the ship without any problems. The crew of the Sunny seemed to be following their regular routine despite having new guests aboard.

Law was closely watching Caesar. On the afternoon of the previous day the warlord spent a couple of minutes talking briefly with Joker, his plans about forcing Doflamingo to quit the Shichibukai already on progress. Of course the news related to it would come around in the next newspaper.

Monet was still unaware of Law's plan, unlike the whole rest of the crew. Such idea would definitely upset her to no end, she would never agree with such.

It was only when morning's breakfast was served that she's been told of what happened.

Gathering again at the kitchen room she was calmly enjoying her breakfast, the best she ever had thanks to Sanji, while talking with Robin and Nami.

Perhaps the fact she was female made her interaction with the only other two women aboard rather easier.

Nami and Robin still had their doubts about Monet but, apparently, they seemed quite friendly around the harpy despite past events.

"Does it get even worse? I mean, it's not like the World Government it's not capable of applying their laws, but their system is clearly corrupted and manipulated on the higher standards, there is no real justice," Nami said clearly undignified after they discussed Vergo's important ranking among the Marines.

"People make their way up along the years, but while some keep their ideals for so long others might change their minds about which path to follow," Robin responded while serving herself of another toast with jelly.

"What else can go wrong with these people? It's one crazy admiral after the other, I'm not a fan of the Marines, but I can't help but feel rather depressed to think they would let such things slip through their ranks so easily."

Robin could understand Nami's disappointment since the navigator had a very dearly person related to her that worked with the marines. For Nami it was always a source of pride and inspiration.

"Those who wish to corrupt and conquer will take any means necessary to do it so, especially if they'll always find people aiming for power," Monet said rather depressively. She could easily understand the concept behind corruption. Morality is a rarity.

"Easy is to corrupt those to who you have something important to offer. What Law did yesterday was a proof of how this game works, I've found myself being into many of these occasions," Nami stared at Robin with sympathy, she could understand the past in which the archeologist was submitted.

"What Law did yesterday?" Monet stared at Robin intrigued.

"He contacted Doflamingo, we would return Caesar to him if he, forcefully, resigned his title of Shichibukai," The archeologist explained while observing the harpy carefully.

Few seconds of stunned silence passed. Even the other side of the table, where Luffy and the others were, became quieter than usual.

"But….why would you return Caesar? That doesn't make any sense," Monet said ignoring the fact that Law was taking advantage of the situation over Joker. "Whatever title he has is meaningless compared with how powerful he could be with the weapons Caesar can create."

This was not the type of reaction most were expecting from her, even few seemed to be a bit doubtful about the whole deal.

"Now that you put it that way I have to agree," Sanji said appearing of nowhere near the ladies. "But then there's more to this plan than what we can tell so far, once we get near Dressrosa Law and Luffy will work on the rest of it. I don't think we're going to drop Caesar on the beach and leave,"

"That's something more likely to happen, and if he's no longer a Shichibukai it means the Marines will make a strike towards him in no time, bigger the mess, better for us," Nami said with a smirk. "Hopefully we won't have to stay around Dressrosa for too long,"

"I would not be so sure, Joker will not let this pass so easily. He'll have something in mind to ambush your crew, Law's plan might delay him a bit but won't make things much different. Joker has made many dangerous moves before, whatever he might plan for your crew won't be just out of the ordinary. He's a very insane person once upset. I've seen him angry sometimes, it was when I knew one mistake would cost your life, even if you were part of his crew."

"I thought he worked with people he considered his family, it's not like he would dismiss them so easily," Nami pondered this fact at the harpy.

"That….."

Monet paused. There were very few occasions in the past that she knew that Joker had ordered the execution of people close to him, old pirate crew members were of his most deep confidence. Newer members after Corazon not so much.

The fact of what succeed between Joker and his brother came to Monet's knowledge after few secret conversations she had with Vergo. It only took the fact that Corazon was against his brother for Joker to kill him at cold blood.

If he did that with his own real family member what wouldn't he do with those who were not even related?

It was such fact that made the harpy petrified about going back to Dressrosa and being spotted walking around along with the straw hats on her free will.

She knew she was expendable the moment she contacted Joker for the last time, that brief conversation was enough for her to understand about what she would have to do in case the Straw Hats managed to escape the lab with Caesar.

It was when she believed her cause, but once she failed that task she realized what a waste her life has been so far.

"Sorry, I need some air," Monet quickly stood up and went for the door. This took both Nami and Robin by surprise. Once the door closed the rest of the crew came around the girls.

"What happened? Monet seemed a bit disturbed," Sanji commented once he returned from the balcony. "Sorry, I had to wash some stuff so I couldn't listen the whole conversation.

"I would say she still needs time to understand the world around her. Much changed in her view of things, she's finding hard to break all her beliefs and make new ones," Robin commented once she finally managed to conclude her line of thought.

"And I would say she knows something about Doflamingo that scares even her," Nami said while crossing her arms and staring at her empty plate.

"I think she's scary enough when angry, but since this Doflamingo can scare even her I can't think on something that much scarier," Usopp said while closing his eyes, thinking hard on things that would terrify him to death.

"Meh, she's probably feeling sick or something. Hey Chopper, you should make another exam on her," Luffy said without any worries.

"It's not that simple Luffy. I can heal the physic, not the mental," Chopper said with a sigh.

"What? Are you saying Monet is retarded?" Luffy asked dumbly. The reindeer felt a bit irritated.

" _No, but probably you are_ ," He muttered under his breath. "What I'm saying is that I'm not a psychologist and I can't really help her with the conflict going into her mind. That's something she'll have to resolve on her own for now,"

"Doctor-san does have a point, we only can help her once she decides on what to do about the path she'll take. We must wait for her to make a decision," Robin said while crossing her arms and legs smoothly. "We did all we could."

"If you're saying so…." Nami was still worried about the harpy's predicament. The weather manipulator seriously hoped for Monet to choose them instead of Doflamingo, more for Monet's sake than anything else.

"We have a long way ahead of us, still will take two days to reach Dressrosa. Chopper, why don't you go help Monet to get into her routine? She could use something to keep herself busy and rest her thoughts a bit," Sanji suggested nicely to the reindeer.

"I'll see what I can do, are the others awake already?" Chopper replied back to Sanji.

"Kin'emon and Momonosuke just woke up, they'll be here shortly. Law is with Caesar, I had to take their breakfast outside. Seems that guy won't take any second away from Caesar, I really don't mind after all the work we had to capture him."

"Yosh, I'll go outside too! Hey Chopper! Why don't you and Usopp come with me so we can get some food?" Luffy happily requested while opening the door. Sanji sighed.

"I just told Chopper to advise Monet, don't distract him with that now Luffy, just take Usopp with you, it will be enough."

"Kay, see you later then Chopper," The captain agreed while leaving along with Usopp.

 _"I hope no more Sea Kings this time…."_ The sharpshooter muttered while following Luffy outside.

Chopper chuckled slightly while walking behind Usopp towards the deck. Once outside he saw Law with Caesar at the same exact spot as always, Zoro was far ahead resting on a corner, Brook was chatting with Kin'emon and Momonosuke, Franky was also around making a routine check on the ship.

 _'Where is she?'_ Though the reindeer while looking around for the harpy. He went to the med-bay first, and found her doing a quick read on one of his many books that were over his desk.

"Something tells me you also have a bit of scientist in you," She said without looking at him, she didn't sound upset but rather amused.

"Oh, yeah….I do some experiences, but always looking for something to help instead of destroying," Chopper replied firmly. Monet nodded slightly.

"Of course, I would never imply you're some kind of mad person seeking to destroy the world," She said jokingly. Chopper couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Definitely not. So….what do you want to do first?"

Monet paused her reading and went her eyes over the messed up desk filled with bottles, books, and several other stuff Chopper used, recently or not.

"How about you teach me a bit of this stuff? I've never thought about becoming a healer, it could be useful someday."

"More than you would imagine, considering how many times my nakama got injured," Chopper said with a sigh.

"Sounds nice, though I would love to have some fighting practice too, I'm feeling totally out of shape," She said while stretching her wings at her sides the farthest she could.

"Well, that should wait, you need to be resting for at least two days before putting up to some practice," The reindeer advised gently as possible.

"Is that so? Oh, well then, no questioning the doctor's orders," She said playfully much to Chopper's surprise.

"Hum….I guess we should start then…"

As the day progressed Chopper spent most of his time instructing Monet the best he could, he was glad she's a fast learner, mostly due the fact she already has a basic knowledge in this field.

Lunch came by without incidents, of course without mentioning the moment when Caesar saw Monet nearby and disrupted into insults of all kinds. After very tense minutes, they managed to take the harpy away but she still left somewhat satisfied with the swift kick she landed on the scientist.

"Traitorous bitch! I'm amazed you're not in half as you should!" Caesar yelled at her after the harpy left. Of course he was soon knocked out by another kick, this time from Sanji.

"Important prisoner or not, I won't let you insult any lady with that despicable mouth of yours," The cook said while eyeing severely the recently injured scientist.

"That really doesn't concern us, their personal conflict can wait. We must keep our eyes open for Doflamingo. We're deep into his territory, I wouldn't be surprised if he jumped on us all of sudden," Law said while still resting on his usual spot.

"Don't say that! I'm nervous already with some monstrosity under the waters, it's bad already without worrying about something coming from above!" Usopp said while chilling a bit. Both him and Luffy have been fishing the whole day without success.

"Hey Usopp, you got something?" Luffy asked with boredom.

"Psshhh, this part of the ocean seems to be more deserted than Alabasta's desert. Unless you want to go after a Sea King again," The sharpshooter replied annoyed.

"Meh, perhaps, maybe if we had more people fishing we could get something. Oi! Franky! Can you help us with the fishes?"

"No luck on the fishes, eh? " The cyborg replied with a smile. " I would love to but I got some improvements to work with the Sunny before we reach Dressrosa, why don't you two see if someone else is available?"

"Brook?" Luffy asked.

"Yohohoho, I would love to Luffy-san, but I'm just working on a new song I composed, perhaps someone else then?" The skeleton said rather excitedly.

"Zoro?"

The swordsman grunted with annoyance.

"When you ever saw me fishing?" He asked without looking at his captain. Luffy merely stared. "No."

"Then…..hey Chopper!"

The reindeer was just passing by along with the harpy when he heard his captain's call, he went to Luffy's side while expressing curiosity, Monet was right after, though she seemed rather distracted with a book on her wing.

"Aye, Luffy, what is it?"

"Can you help us with the fishes? We got nothing so far," Luffy said somewhat frustrated.

"Nothing? But you two have been there the whole day," Chopper replied amazed at the lack of results.

"Well, no luck. Come on, we need an extra bow here, maybe Monet could join us if she wants," Usopp suggested while keeping his eyes on his own fishing line.

Once hearing her name being mentioned the harpy slowly closed the book and went to observe their activity. Chopper was a bit hesitant at first but, apparently, he decided it wouldn't hurt to take some time to help his nakama.

"Fishing, perhaps something I only did one or two times in my whole life," The harpy commented while observing the calm ocean. "Never had an occasion of being alone on the seas, or a desert island of sorts."

"Well, this would be quite enjoyable if we actually could get something," Usopp was getting rather upset with the fishing failure. Suddenly an idea popped into his mind. "Hey, what if we could reach lower? Perhaps the fishes are swimming a bit deeper than our bows can reach."

"Heh? And how exactly we would do that? We don't have a small boat, and even such would be dangerous," Chopper asked on puzzlement.

"Hey Monet, what's your power again? You can freeze stuff, right?"

The harpy stared at the marksman suspiciously.

"I ate a snow snow fruit. I can freeze, yes, but not as fast as an ice ice fruit user."

"Can you convert water into snow?" Luffy asked with shinning eyes. Monet seemed doubtful.

"Yes, but only did with small quantities of consumable water, I'm not sure what effects it would have with salty water, and how much I can convert at once."

"This sounds like a good moment to try, don't you think? You have plenty of time and water right ahead of you, why not practice a bit?" Usopp said encouragingly, much to the harpy's astonishment.

"I…." She stared discretely at the reindeer, Chopper seemed okay with the idea as long she didn't push her limits. It was when the harpy wondered if she _should_ push her limits.

Calmly as possible she focused on the environment around her, eyes closed slightly while charging on her abilities.

Once a very warm heat of the sun and gentle breeze of the sea was now an incredibly icy sensation around her body and those nearby.

"Wow, that was quick!" Usopp said while crossing his arms at the sudden coldness, few seconds after it was snowing around them, though the snow was very light to form any mass around them since it would quickly melt at the floor's heat.

Chopper seemed to relax instantaneously, this kind of environment was simply his favorite, as a reindeer he simply felt connected with the snow and the coldness.

"…." Luffy removed his straw hat to get rid of some of the snow over it. "…it's cold…"

Monet tried her best to summon upon her abilities, trying to remember how to simulate the condensation of the water into snow, a task she performed a long time ago. It was difficult for her to gather enough energy once she realized how much such task would require of her.

She couldn't risk to expose directly with the sea water by turning into snow herself, most likely her powers would subdue due the water effects over a Devil Fruit user.

The snow was falling at a much rapid pace around then, she needed the environment to be at her side when performing her powers, on a desert of sand she would have great issues. Water was her ally while fire was her enemy. Air was also an important component for her since it would contain enough water for her to condensate.

She transformed water into snow before, but performing something this large was a whole new experience for her level.

But then again what's the point of doing that? The snow would just dissipate thanks the much larger amount of water covering it, it was like dropping a snowball inside a lake.

Perhaps she really needed to turn the water into ice.

"I can't," She sadly admitted. "Besides, it would be better if I just turned all this water into ice. Such thing is out of my reach."

Usopp seemed somewhat disappointed, slowly the snow around them was melting as the heat of the sun was allowed to reach over them again.

"Well, can you?" Luffy asked sounding quite curious.

"Perhaps, but would take a lot of training an-

"Well, you should do that. How else will you get stronger?" Luffy interrupted with his arms still crossed.

Monet glared at the straw hat captain with apprehension. What exactly did he want her to do?

Before Monet could ask anything, she took notice of how sleepy Chopper was all of sudden. She then reminded herself that it was because his reindeer original form, such that made him enjoy the coldness she produced. This was a first for her, never anyone felt happy about experiencing first hand her powers on them.

"Well, I must say it's the first time I see someone pleased with my powers," She commented offhandedly. Chopper, being very aware of what she meant, turned his head away from her pretending he had nothing to do with it. "I'll work on developing them as time goes by, though I have other priorities in mind for now. You two keep fishing, you'll get something eventually."

The harpy turned around and went back to the med-bay. Luffy and Usopp just shrugged while turning their attention back to their bows.

Feeling extremely conflicted Chopper decided to go after her, it only took him a single jump from half the ship to the door of the med-bay. Once he got inside, he saw the harpy laying over the bed with one of the books he gave her about biology.

"Quite late aren't you?" She asked joyfully. The reindeer slowly took a seat, though his taller form forced him to spread his legs a bit further than normal. "I normally would guess a reindeer with a blue nose does have something special on him."

It was that, another off-hand comment that made Chopper scared of talking with her.

"I suppose you're curious about it?" He asked very cautiously after few seconds of silence. Monet realized the awkwardness around him.

"It's there something wrong?" She asked being genuinely concerned about the reindeer.

"Maybe….I mean, have you decided on what you're going to do from now on?" He asked while gazing firmly into her eyes.

"Not yet, but rest assured I do not intend to harm any of your crew. I cannot make any promises about Law or the others that are just guests," She said sounding quite relaxed, the book she was reading now laying at her side, her eyes studying the reindeer in front of her.

Such staring made Chopper uncomfortable. He hated to admit but what Nami said last night had an impact on him he didn't want to deal with.

"So, what's the story about the blue nose?" She asked with interest while checking her belt.

"Hum, I can't really tell how I got it since I remember about having it since birth," Chopper said feeling quite weird with this conversation.

"How was it like to be just a reindeer?"

"Painful," Chopper responded a bit too quickly. Monet stared at him again, no longer smiling but rather preoccupied. Never had Chopper felt such intense feeling of slapping himself for being this careless. "I was born different, I was treated differently, I was dealt with differently, I became even more different, I was on a different place, I was…."

He paused a bit while trying to calm his breath. Remembering the past like this all of sudden was never easy. Monet seemed very sympathetic while looking at him, thankfully she wasn't the type of hugging people otherwise Chopper would've freaked out.

"I am different, but so is everyone else around me, and I'm not judged about it. They like me for who I am."

"I understand," Monet said while playing with the edge of her hair. "Your past is difficult just as everyone else in this ship. It's funny how-

Before she could finish a sudden tremor made the whole room shake as if an earthquake occurred.

"What just happened?" Chopper asked while quickly rising from his seat and rushing outside, Monet followed him immediately.

Dark figures jumped over them right after they left the door, on a quick movement Monet displaced one of them with a strong slash of her wings towards her attacker.

Chopper developed some swift kicks at two more that came at him near the stairs, before he could reach the lower deck more dark enemies came at him nonstop.

A powerful blast of snow delivered by Monet sent several adversaries away from the reindeer. Still more kept coming no matter how hard she hit them.

"Who are those?" The reindeer asked while dodging more powerful blows and absorbing others with his arms. He considered transforming, but the Sunny wasn't exactly to be used as a battle zone of larger proportions, Chopper was wary about damaging the ship.

A dark figure tried to jump on Monet's back, but seeing this she performed a graceful deflection, her opponent missed the attack and fell to the lower deck.

"This is getting an-

"This is Breed speaking, we have Caesar! All of you return immediately!" A voice suddenly said catching their attention.

Monet frowned. Someone has kidnapped Caesar, but she never heard the name Breed before, so it was unlikely to be related to Doflamingo.

"Where the hell these bastards came from?" Zoro asked while chasing away the last intruder.

Law seemed seriously upset.

"We don't have much time, we must go after him immediately," He said while looking at the others.

"The Shark Submerge can reach after them in no time," Usopp quickly informed while checking around to make sure no more hostiles were present. Thankfully no one was injured due this quick assault.

"It has room for four people maximum, who's coming with me?" Law asked.

"Yosh, I'm coming," Luffy said almost immediately.

"I'm coming too," Chopper said firmly.

A brief silence followed, seemed no one else was disposed to tag along.

"I'll go, this sounds like fun."

The whole crew turned around to stare at the harpy, most of them unsure of what to say. Law's face hardened.

"You're not g-

"Yosh! It's decided! Let's go!" Luffy said before running away towards the Sunny's bay. Law sighed heavily.

"You're the worst mugiwara…"

Law went after Luffy, followed by Chopper and Monet. The reindeer seemed somewhat astonished to think Monet would tag along them in a dangerous mission. He still was somewhat amazed he offered himself to go without thinking twice about it.

The group reached Sunny's bay in a couple of minutes. Once the Sub was prepared, Chopper had no choice but to finally transform to his smaller form so the whole group could fit inside.

"Well, you don't look sexy but rather cute," Monet commented playfully at him. The reindeer mumbled incoherent words while sitting at the pilot's seat. Thankfully he has some previous experience on piloting the Shark Submerge.

"Seal the hatch and we're ready to go," Chopper ordered while checking the navigation commands.

"Yosh, we'll be back soon as we can!" Luffy informed to his crew mates present at the docking bay before sealing the hatch. "Ready to go!"

 _"Shark Submerge, this is Sunny, over,"_ Franky's voice came from the panel.

"Wow, so cool!" Luffy commented while Chopper responded to the call.

"This is Shark, waiting for the opening of the docking bay….over," The reindeer added after a second of hesitation.

 _"Roger, doors will be open in ten seconds, good luck lads, over."_

"I hope we get there in time, I just wonder what this Breed wants with Caesar," Law said while adjusting himself on an edge of the Shark. Monet thanked for her wingspan being there to smooth any impacts with the cold metal. True to be told the Shark barely had room for three people inside, Chopper's much smaller form and Luffy's tiny shape helped greatly.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's some sort of underworld criminal chasing after a reward for Caesar's head," Monet said with a smirk. She loved when she knew better than Law.

The warlord avoided any remarks about this, he still was rather upset for Luffy to allow her along with them in this critical task.

The Shark Submerge left the dock immediately once the doors were open. Chopper guided the submarine using his animal instincts to follow the trail of their attackers, aside some of the navigation equipment installed on the Shark.

Whoever this person was he just made a big mistake on kidnapping Caesar, and little did he knew the danger that was after him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long delay folks, but you know how end of year tends to be that time when lots of stuff happens. Normally for me it means vacations and stuff to organize. I've been working on the chapters and I'm relieved to have chapters 8,9 and 10 already finished.**

 **I want to thank everyone for following this story so far, even if I'm unable to update constantly as I would like to. Also I've moved out and this I'm still trying to have an stable network connection is this area, so I might take longer to update from one chapter to another. Taking this into consideration I might release the next 3 chapters on a short pace, it will just depend on what you guys have to say. I really need opinions about the story, any suggestions are welcome, criticizing too, nobody is perfect after all. :P**

 **To the reviews!**

 **Blue Vanlocke;**

 _Yeah, time for some action, though I'm not the best at making action parts._ _L_ _And yes I'm writing Dressrosa's arc, longest ever thankfully, lol._

 **BlackGryphon101;**

 _Caesar? To be honest that wouldn't make any sense, I dunno where did you get that from. /_

 _About the scar I wasn't really sure…it's quite strange enough how she's been cut in half but not really injured, still she had issues morphing after being sliced. I have no idea how such things work, plus it's not exactly precise how Monet recovered from that or anything. Dunno, perhaps I did it to have some reference about such event. I can modify that part later to add scars from the attacks you mentioned instead of a huge one. This way it will make it more accurate. This is why I ask for opinions, this way the story improves and it's a great benefit to the readers of the fandom. Thank you very much for the review! And welcome to the story!_

 **Rod Vulpine;**

 _Terrible grammar…_

 _Ouch, my feelings_ _L_ _But is it really that bad? Wow, I was trying the best I could, English is still my third language and I'm really putting an effort in this story to have the less mistakes possible. Still, if you can, I would like for you to point me the mistakes so I can work on them for future chapters, I would be the most thankful for it. If you mean my verbalization….I agree, my verbalization skills suck._

 _At least my story telling skills are in check, phew! :P I was getting worried, and yes it fills the bill for something, there wasn't really any story before and that got me a bit surprise and upset. I dedicated myself into doings this, letting aside other fics I was working on. It seems someone else has just wrote another fic with a similar plot, thought he has made it his own way, I'll be checking on his story to see how it goes. It's always nice to have more people looking into this._

 _The Force is guiding your vibes. :P Thanks for the fav! I'm releasing the next 3 chapters on a short pace to compensate a bit the delays. Thanks for reviewing!_

Luffy, Chopper, and Law ended up in a massive ship after following Caesar's captures for few minutes, thanks to Chopper's animal instincts they managed to arrive in a strange complex, they could only guess it was a huge ship of sorts.

"Alright, let's g-

Those words barely left Luffy's mouth as he started to rush into the ship, but Monet brought him to an immediate stop. She gently patted his shoulder before he could run away from the group.

"Wait, let's not rush things just yet. We must be cautious, if you had done different at Punk Hazard you would've avoided lots of trouble," She said wisely while walking towards the nearest door. Luffy groaned.

"But this way ain't fun! I want to get this Breed jerk already!" He complained while following the harpy through the door. Monet rolled her eyes though she smiled at the same time.

"Always so highly spirited, at least you don't sound like a depressive jerk," She said shooting a quick glance at Law. The warlord frowned slightly. "You want to go first?" She pointed her wing towards the door.

Luffy chuckled before kicking the door with a quick stretch of his leg. The wooden structure obliterated into several pieces that flew far away. Once inside they got the view of a gigantic saloon.

"Well, this sure looks interesting," Monet commented while looking around analyzing the spaced area.

"Eyes open, we're not sure what we're dealing with, and you better behave," Law warned while glaring dangerously at the harpy.

"You sure know how to make people feel better, don't you, Law?" She shot back with a hateful stare. "Worry only about yourself, as usual."

Chopper sighed while looking around for their objective. He was expecting that Law and Monet would keep bickering at each other, though he expected they didn't took it personally.

How wrong he was.

"I worry about what really matters in case you haven't-

But before Law could finish they were quickly assaulted by the same group as before, this time they were able to identify better their attackers. Several giant rabbits, with few other different but large animals.

"There they are," Chopper said as he finally could see the group of animals that attacked the Sunny moments ago. It was thanks to them he managed to follow the trail after Caesar. "Why they keep attacking us?"

"Now it doesn't matter," Law said while bringing his powers into play. _"Room"_

Monet was ready to launch herself at the animals, but Luffy brought her to a stop.

"Wait! I know one of them!" The straw-hat boy said while fixing his eyes on a spot ahead of her. Monet turned around to see a mid-sized turtle on attacking position looking at them. He seemed somewhat panicked.

"You actually know him? From where?" Monet asked while keeping her awareness in check. She quickly generated a sizable amount of snow before moving further.

"Long ago back in Alabasta, long story," Luffy said while getting closer cautiously to the animals. Law had already knocked few down, Chopper wasn't having much of an easy fight having to morph several times to escape his attackers.

" _Snowstorm!"_ Monet, using the snow that fell around her, quickly launched a solid and brute wave at her sides to deflect and counter few rabbits that tried to flank her. The wave was strong enough to push them away at a safe distance. The atmosphere was slightly changing to become colder at each second, this way favoring Monet's abilities further.

"Hey, what's he saying?" Luffy was staring at the Kung-Fu Dugong for a while, the turtle seemed to be moving his little arms frenetically as if trying to scare them away.

Chopper came to their side while being chased by more animals. Monet saw him approach and went to cover him, it was when she saw something small flying towards the reindeer. Out of pure instinct she launched a solid attack against the object.

" _Diamonds"_ Few particles of snow paired on the air around her, each one shining brightly as jewels, they became solid as ice but not exactly consistent as one. She launched them with a swift movement of a single wing straight at Chopper.

The reindeer saw this and immediately dived into the ground to avoid the attack, the sharp objects came flying above him with the speed of bullets, Chopper heard several soft cracks before small pieces of metal came crashing around him.

Chopper stared around not quite sure of what just happened, he glanced at Monet as if asking what got into her. She merely came at him but watching around cautiously.

"Be damned you! How did you saw my collar?!" A familiar voiced echoed through the gigantic salon. The harpy stopped to glance briefly at a specific point.

"You must be Breed," She said before turning around, keeping her eyes on the animals surrounding them. It seemed no matter how hard they got hit they would stand again. It was almost as if….

"Oh, I see….now that makes sense," The harpy said after taking a better look at the group of animals. Well, she could guess what power this Breed had over these animals.

"What makes sense?" Chopper asked while keeping on guard. Law and Luffy were nearby them, Law still quite tense while keeping an eye on the harpy.

"We don't have time for talk, we must get Caesar and go back to the ship," The warlord said after taking a quick look at Breed. The man was standing at a safe distance from them, commanding his animals to attack the group non-stop.

"Perhaps if you used your eyes and brain a bit more you would've figured this out by now Law," Monet said with a chuckle. She just couldn't resist mocking the other about something she knew and he didn't.

"What are you talking about?" Luffy asked not sure of what was going on, he just wanted to kick Breed's ass and bring Caesar back.

"Be patient Luffy, if we had stormed in just like you wanted at the beginning we could've complicated ourselves greatly in this mission," She said playfully while converting into her powers again. This time it was snowing all over the place.

"A logia user?" Breed seemed hesitant. "No matter, you have no idea of my power and how it works!"

"Oh, but I do have an idea," Monet replied while stretching her wings backwards. _"Diamond storm!"_

Just like before, Monet converted snow into solid form, this time she launched a precise wave of projectiles, they went with blindly speed straight at the animals spread over the complex. This attack required too much focus and energy from her to avoid hurting them unnecessarily and injuring greatly.

Several cracks became audible as the snow projectiles ripped apart thought the collars that were placed on the animal's necks.

"Well, this sure does it," The harpy said satisfied with the results, her aim was still working greatly as she expected. Still, she felt incredibly exhausted few seconds later from the amount of energy that such move took away from her.

Breed's face turned white as a sheet.

"How…..you….but….when….who….what?!" He couldn't just believe the harpy figured out his abilities so quickly as that. "Be damned you witch!"

Chopper growled furiously at Breed before launching himself with amazing speed, improved by his _jumping point_ , over the man. Breed did not expect this sudden attack and ended caught off-guard. Chopper's punch, this time using _arm point_ , went straight at his head knocking him to the side. Amazingly he was still able to stand despite heavily injured.

"Meh, no fair Chopper! I wanted to get him first!" Luffy complained while pouting. "Gomu Gomu-

Before the reindeer could say anything Breed launched another of his collars at Chopper, but this time another Diamond attack from Monet destroyed the device just the same way as the first attempt. An enraged and desperate Breed unleashed a large rope previously attached to his belt and whipped it at Chopper's back while he was distracted. The reindeer yelped at the sharp pain from the impact, moaning painfully as the burning sensation came right after.

"Chopper!" Luffy, concerned by his nakama's safety, came at full launch towards Breed, but failed to reach the man first.

Breed was slowly raising from the ground after striking back, but before he could make any other move Monet came down upon him with unspeakable speed.

"Enough of this nonsense," The harpy said, her voice much colder than usual. Breed was about to say something but, in the blink of an eye, he was impaled by one of the harpy's wings. She used her power to morph her wing into something solid and sharp as a sword as she had done in her fight against Zoro.

Breed's eyes shot wide open, been impaled directly through the chest. After few seconds of shocking silence Monet swiftly removed her wing from him and backed away slowly, her wing dripping the red substance on the floor.

Breed's body fell on the ground with a soft thud, a pool of blood slowly forming around it.

Both Chopper and Luffy stood in shock at what just happened. Luffy being less affected since he saw similar before, but this brought back that nightmare moment involving his brother when he died. For Chopper it was just terribly disturbing, it's been a long time since he saw someone die, not even in such gruesome way.

Law merely stared as if that was a daily routine, not even for a second impressed by her actions.

Luffy seemed able to control himself better over the situation while the reindeer clearly had no idea of what to say.

Before anyone could say something the animals came over them, but this time in a friendly manner. Most of them seemed to be thanking Monet for freeing the group from Breed's tyranny.

The harpy stood still not sure of what to do. Chopper, after few seconds of stunned silence, managed to gather enough strength and came to her aid translating their speech. Luffy, that just decided what just happened would have to be discussed later, was quite happy seeing his old friend from Alabasta, soon they ended discovering the animals were actually a pirate crew called Sea Beasts.

"Hahhah, awesome! Can't wait to see you guys again!" Luffy said being quite happy for his friend Kung Fu Dong, which was the captain of the other pirate crew. Monet was blushing tremendously from the gratitude she received, after Chopper translated them. All this unexpected attention seemed to have brought her into a new experience that she never felt before.

Law ignored all this and went to retrieve Caesar from his current cell, one of the animals guided him along the path after offering for such, Chopper made sure Law understood what the animal said.

"Hey Monet! How did you figured out how Breed was controlling them?" Luffy asked out of pure amazement. The harpy seemed quite distracted at the moment. "Monet?"

"Húh?" She said apparently unaware that Luffy was talking with her. "Sorry, I just…."

Luffy stood quiet while watching her mute herself, she seemed sad for some strange reason. This made the young captain even more curious.

"What's the matter? I thought you would be happy for saving them," He asked being purely surprise by her lack of reaction. Monet closed her eyes thoughtfully, unsure of what to say, her mind still processing her latest actions.

"I…..never did this kind of thing before," She said, her voice lower than normal. "I never….helped others."

Both Chopper and Luffy stared at her silently, the harpy was slowly absorbing the fact she did something to help other people, gaining their gratitude and respect in exchange. That felt so much different for her that she found it hard to express what it was like.

Was this normal for pirates? To help other people without aiming for personal gain? This is how the Straw Hats went over the seas? Stopping around to help strangers? To go against powerful opponents in favor of those who had almost nothing? Defeating tyrant lords, kings, gods?

Were the Straw Hats the real justice that went over the seas? They sure made the Marines look bad several times. Monet though about it a lot over the last hours, never the World Government would've displayed this level of kindness and fairness that the mugiwaras were able to.

This kind of moments she would never experience along Joker. He induced fear on those he ruled over and, despite being admired by the people of Dressrosa, the true is that all that adoration was over a tragic lie that, Monet hated to admit, she made part of.

She was at big fault for what happened with the kingdom of Dressrosa, perhaps the only person more gullible than her was Joker himself.

Her latest actions probably didn't make her feel better about the whole thing, and she seriously doubted the Straw Hats killed even in defense of others. She just killed again, but this time for more selfish reasons than it appear to be.

Had Breed not whipped Chopper like he did the man would probably still be alive. What Monet saw at that moment was the living memory of a nightmare she refused to live again. She simply wouldn't tolerate such thing, and to see it happening with Chopper just made her mad beyond her control.

Would they be able to understand the reason beyond of why she did such?

"There's a first time for everything, don't worry ya will learn it fast," Luffy said confidently. Monet never stopped being amazed by how this boy was always so assured of everything, how could he keep the spirits up like that even at the worst occasions?

"Luffy's right, besides it's not a bad thing to help others, I've been taking care of several people ever since I learned my doctor skills. Unlike doctorine, I never charged anyone for payment," Chopper said while crossing his arms, he was along the few Sea Beasts remaining at the ship, Law was still out for Caesar with a Sea Beast with him.

"Now that you mention it Chopper, why not?" Luffy said suddenly realizing that, indeed, the reindeer never gained any money after treating dozens of people before.

"Well…." Chopper scratched his neck while thinking about it, such that became even harder when Monet decided to stare at him. "….being able to help them, and succeeding on healing their injuries always made me feel….different. Especially when I've been recognized for my efforts. It feels good to help others, more than any money could do. Plus I never needed the money that much."

So that's it? It feels good? Monet wondered if that was something that could heal her pride somehow.

Now that Monet thought about it, she never felt anything similar when taking care of the children back at Punk Hazard, but maybe because it wasn't a pure deed? It was because she made it under lies, without actually caring?

No, not maybe.

 _Definitely._

And what kind of pirate says he doesn't need money?!

It all sounded so absurd yet amazing that Monet couldn't help but laugh at it.

Both Chopper and Luffy stared at her puzzled, wondering why she was laughing so heartedly all of sudden.

"Forgive me," The harpy said once she managed to catch her breath. "I must say you're truly different people mugiwara."

"How come? We are nice folks like many people out there, no biggie," Luffy said with a smile, taking notice that Law was making his way back to the group with Caesar along his side.

"That's the thing, pirates aren't well know for being _nice_ ," Monet replied taking some seriousness into that statement.

"I have to agree with that, but then we are well known for not being ordinary pirates after all."

"The true behind that is unquestionable," The harpy slowly turned around as she heard footsteps that she easily recognized.

"He sure had Caesar well locked," Chopper commented after realizing how long it took to get Caesar out of his cell.

"Sure he did," Law replied while keeping both eyes on the scientist. Caesar was still eyeing the harpy with extreme fury. It seems that he decided that the blame for his defeat and capture was on Monet, ever since that, every time he saw her Caesar would be incredibly hostile towards the bird woman.

That lasted until the harpy had enough and injured Caesar with a quick attack, ever since then the scientist has been wary of saying anything. Still he was just mad about anything that involved her.

"Okay, time to go. Chopper, you should contact the Sunny and report our location. It's not like all of us will fit into the Shark with Caesar coming with us,"

"Well, actually I can go flying above. The four of you can go with the sub," Monet suggested while looking for any exit available, once she spotted an opening on the ceiling above she flapped her wings and went airborne instantly. "See you all on the outside."

"Just great," Law muttered after the harpy went away from them. Normally he would've made objections about her leaving, but it's not like they did have much of a choice at the moment. "Let's get going already."

The voyage back to the Shark was relatively calm, after saying their goodbyes to the Sea Beast crew the sub finally made it's way back to the Sunny. Monet flew over the waters following the sub's trail that was navigating very close to the surface.

They reached at the Sunny after few minutes. Once the Shark went inside the docking bay Monet made her way towards the lower deck.

It was at the very moment her feet touched the wooden floor that she instantly collapsed with an amazing impact. She lost all her strength during the landing, being caught completely off guard by the way her body simply gave up. Pain shot across her body as the impact left some bruises.

"Monet! Are you alright?!" Nami's voice quickly came into the harpy's ears. She could barely focus on anything around her that not her injuries.

Nami and Robin came instantly for her aid, followed by Usopp and Brook. Momonosuke and Kin'emon were nearby watching the development of the situation, they still did not had any interaction with the harpy aside Momonosuke, and the young kid really didn't have any good memories of it.

The harpy slowly managed to sit with the aid of the other two female crew members, whatever just happened with the harpy would have to wait for Chopper's arrival so she could have an exam.

"What happened? Were you injured during the fight?" Nami asked with evident concern, wasn't for the extreme pain she was experiencing Monet would've feel touched by the navigator's worriedness.

"Not even close, but I sure wasn't expecting to be bested by a wooden floor," She said somewhat sarcastically, wincing at every movement her body executed.

"But….there's blood on your wing," Nami pointed out towards the red stain covering her feathers. Monet made no mention of it at all.

"Chopper will be on his way shortly, just keep yourself together," Robin said as she held close to the bird women.

Oh, the irony of such statement! She would've laughed if Zoro was the one who said that instead.

True to be told the harpy already had a good idea of what happened. She simply overexceed herself while using her powers without fully healing from her previous fights. She should be thankful this didn't happen on her way back to the Sunny.

"Oi, we're back! You guys won't -

Luffy's voice died as he finally reached the deck, once he saw everyone gathered around Monet he immediately came to her side.

"Monet! Are you ok?" The mugiwara captain asked sounding a bit desperate.

"I've been better, but not that much," She said trying to sound sarcastic but failing miserably. "Where's Tony?"

"Tony?" Asked Nami confused for a second. "Oh, you mean Chopper? He's coming around soon, we should take you to the med-bay in the meantime."

"That sounds the best we can do for now, let's get her upstairs," Robin said while pulling the harpy carefully from the ground with the aid of her powers. " _Gigantesco Mano._ "

A giant hand materialized from the wooden floor, lifting Monet towards the upper deck. Once reaching the same level she was dragged out of it by Nami.

"You sure seemed lighter," The navigator commented off-handedly as she dragged the harpy into the med-bay. Monet, being very wary of her own appearance, made no remarks about this.

Once inside Monet managed to get herself over the bed. Much to the harpy's surprise Nami actually bothered to drag a small desk with a couch and place Monet's talons over it.

It was such simple acts that made the harpy slowly gain trust about staying with the mugiwaras.

"Nami, what happened?" Chopper after getting inside in a hurry, being aware about Monet's injuries thanks to the other crewmembers.

"I hope you can find it out for us," Nami replied while giving room for Chopper pass by and check on Monet. Normally she wouldn't have to give room if Chopper didn't insist on being at his jumping point form constantly.

The navigator slowly observed as the reindeer treated the harpy. Perhaps it was Nami's impression, but Chopper was being even more 'insistent' when checking Monet's condition than she ever saw him treat other patients in the past. Normally by now he would've prescribed her condition, but so far the reindeer seemed to doubt his own analysis. Was something really wrong with her or the reindeer was just double checking to make sure?

Also Nami couldn't help but look for any signs that there may be something going on between them, but as far the check-up went she was unable to see any signs that could give away some of the navigator's suspicions.

Before she could observe further a sudden knock on the door distracted all the occupants currently inside the med-bay. Nami, being the closest to the door, went at it to check who could it be.

"Forgive me for the intrusion Nami-swan, Luffy requested for all of us to meet him at the dining room. By 'us' I mean everyone from the crew, except Chopper since he's clearly busy," Sanji said rather apologetically.

"I'll be on my way," Nami said before moving to close the door, but Sanji blocked her.

"It's a bit urgent," He added sounding worried.

"What is about?" Nami asked being clearly anxious about the urgency of such. Sanji motioned with his hand for Nami to follow him outside. Slowly she closed the door and went after the cook through the empty hallway.

"It seems we have to decide what to do with Monet."


	8. Chapter 8

A morbid silence paired on the air as each crewmember gathered around the table to discuss an urgent matter brought by their captain. Nami, Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, Franky, Brook, Robin and Luffy were all sitting at the dining room table, each one of them reacting on their own accord to the situation.

Nami never saw Luffy behaving so serious like he was at the moment, almost as if he had his own doubts about what they were going to discuss. The navigator noticed how each of her nakama was clearly uncomfortable with the current development.

"So….what you guys think?" Luffy said, his voice carrying that heavy tone of when he meant serious business. "Should Monet be our new nakama?"

Again another nerve cracking silence went through each one of them, at least if felt like such for Nami.

Usopp's eyebrows were visibly twitching, if caused by hard thinking or nervousness it was hard to tell. He did complain a lot about having Monet in the ship with them, solely for the fact she worked for Doflamingo, but seeing how friendly the harpy has been on the last hours he couldn't help but think she does deserve a chance among them. Besides he could easily see how powerful she was, especially if she stood her ground against Zoro and Luffy, having her in the crew would increase their chances of survival dramatically.

Zoro was apparently calm, but on the inside he was one of the most conflicted about this decision. His opinion on the subject mattered greatly as he was the second after Luffy. He did not trust the harpy, but he had to admit she's a strong opponent, to think she could improve further was a good thing, their adversaries would be the strongest of this part of the seas, Monet was clearly more than capable of taking into a fight, especially on her own. Still her way of fighting bothered him, it was rather dishonorable.

Thinking over it a lot on the last hours, Zoro finally concluded that Monet did all she could to last the longest possible even with great odds against her. She held ground against Luffy, himself, Robin, Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Tagashi. It was, at the very least a remarkable feat, the last time someone fought almost the whole crew at the same time and lasted that long was when they fought against Oz. While fighting she never let apparent any sign of exhaustion, but once severely injured it affected her greatly, but her pride didn't allow her to show any weakness. Monet may not have his trust, but has his respect.

Both Franky and Brook seemed to be very inclined on accepting the harpy among them, but it was because they saw very little of what she did, and her time in the crew went without any incidents. Considering the harpy actually helped them rescue Caesar they favored her to stay since she proved herself able to handle difficult tasks.

Sanji was calmly watching each one of his nakama's expressions, looking for any signs of what they could be thinking. The cook was ready to accept the harpy, having a personal conversation with her before he could guess how much support Monet needed from people she could trust. Besides, she's being a great friend for Chopper from the few times the cook saw both together, at least she would help the reindeer on having a bigger vision of the world as it is.

Robin was fairly decided on letting Monet join them, more likely she would ask for Monet to stay. The harpy proved to be top for their level, considering the dangers that would lay ahead, Monet is more than capable of handling herself and helping them when necessary. She enjoyed the few conversations she had so far with Monet, it was nice to have someone with a similar personality. Even if the harpy made Chopper quite uneasy most times, as far she observed there was an incessant amount of flirting when it came about Chopper coming from the harpy. Robin was still not sure why Monet was so playful around the reindeer like that, perhaps a way to express her gratitude for saving her? Only time would tell.

Nami stood quietly while thinking on what to say to her captain. She had several reasons for both wanting and not wanting Monet in their crew.

The fact she was loyal to Joker and tried to murder them a day ago being the biggest against the harpy staying. What favored Monet was her friendly behavior while in the ship so far, and the fact she helped them when requested, even if not directly at her. She was surprisingly easy to talk with, having always a cool attitude when discussing things with the crew. But more than anything she wanted Monet to stay because her presence was improving Chopper's personality, and the fact she was always around the reindeer reinforced her suspicion that maybe Monet did have a likening for Chopper.

Luffy stood quietly waiting for any of his nakama to say something about, he knew how delicate this would be, he just recently saw Monet kill Breed while they were rescuing Chopper. Judging by Law's behavior at that same very moment the young captain imagined this is how things would go from now on. It was either kill or be killed.

He may not like it, but taking into consideration the amount of deaths at Punk Hazard, this was a situation they have to deal with. Luffy felt apprehensive about the moment when they reach Dressrosa, he couldn't just wait until the events at that island to unfold so he finally can take Monet into account.

They would need her, badly. He knew she needed them just as much, but trusting each other was a whole new issue. Luffy could tell that she has the trust of few such as Chopper, Sanji and Robin. Zoro, Usopp and Nami were a whole different matter. Brook and Franky were in fair account about her so probably they wouldn't mind having her into the crew.

It was a good thing Luffy didn't brought Law into this, especially since he's not a crewmember and his opinion on this doesn't count.

But boy….he'll be mad.

The newspaper announcing Doflamingo's resignation from the Shichibukai just came few minutes ago, along with the formed alliance between Law and the Straw Hats. Law was content so far with the development of the events. They reached half their objective, but the worst was still yet to come.

Considering this new formed alliance Luffy was wondering how Law would react once he learns that Monet joined the Straw Hats.

Perhaps the worst was just about to happen.

And yes, even if few nakama of his go against the harpy Luffy will invite her to the crew nevertheless. He was confident already she would accept, even if she hesitates at the start. Just this time Luffy felt he should gather everyone to discuss about it since Monet was a special case due the events of Punk Hazard.

"She's scary, I'll admit that," Usopp said finally breaking the awkward silence. Everyone around the table stared at him attentively. "Despite that, she's been cool among everyone else ever since she came aboard, she's quite a playful person once you get to know her better. I'm not sure what happened with her to end with Doflamingo, but I think she deserves a chance into our crew."

A short pause went by as the others considered his words.

"Monet has been through a lot, just like everyone else here, especially at childhood," This time all the eyes fell upon Robin. "She has a younger sister currently at Dressrosa, being the only family she has left I imagine she's feeling stressed by what could happen once revealed Monet is among us, she cares deeply for her sister and is willing to make a sacrifice on her behalf."

Now this bit of info was new for most other crewmembers, to think Monet has a sister involved certainly changed things a bit.

"That's right, and even if we managed to beat Doflamingo I think that Monet has doubts of what will be of Sugar after everything is over," Sanji said while walking having his arms crossed.

"What exactly Sugar does for Doflamingo that could be so important?" Nami asked while eyeing both Robin and Sanji with expectation.

"That we still don't know, we should ask her _after_ we decided on what to do," Robin advised severely.

"She's strong, her logia powers combined with her flying abilities and physic appearance made her a very dangerous person to fight against. Besides I imagine she would have issues only against fire or electric powers. I haven't seen any haki developed on her, but if she did developed such….I rather not be the one to find it out," Zoro said surprising many of his nakama around the table. Luffy nodded slightly in agreement, he did thought about such before.

"I don't think me and Brook have much to say about her, but from the little we saw she seems fine for us," Franky said while removing his dark glasses. "From what I heard around she seems to be a good deal, the only problem being her relation with Doflamingo."

"That's pretty much it, also I would like to point it out how much her presence has been affecting Chopper lately," Nami said finally bringing attention to herself. "He seems different ever since we came out of Punk Hazard, he no longer stays on his chubby form anymore, he insist on using jumping point everywhere he goes. I really can't explain why of this, also he's always around her no matter where they go. I've been asking about it to him but he got really mad with me in a way I've never seen before."

"Wait, what are you saying Nami-swan? You think Chopper has a thing for Monet?" Sanji asked, both his eyebrows raising slightly.

"Well, I wouldn't say a thing, but I'm not sure how else to describe it, what do you think Robin?" The navigator went for the archeologist aid on the matter. Robin stood thoughtfully before answering.

"Perhaps he does, he might deny it fervently, or maybe he doesn't even realize it yet. It's not like it's a bad thing, but would be the first time such thing happens in our crew. I think the biggest question is that how we would handle it if something, indeed, happens between the two,"

This set everyone into a deep silence, which was immediately broke by Luffy.

"That can wait, right now we should decide on inviting Monet to join us," The captain said, he wasn't really worried about a possible relationship among his nakama.

"I say yes," Usopp declared raising his hand on the air.

"Yes," Said Robin also raising her hand.

"I go for yes," Sanji announced imitating their hand gestures.

"Yes from me, yohohohooh!" Brook said animatedly.

"Aye, that's a super yes from me," Franky said while making a pose of victory.

"Yes," Zoro said with great simplicity but firmly.

"I also say yes," Nami finally said after thinking hard over it.

"Yosh! It's decided then!" Luffy said happily while jumping from his chair towards the door," Alright, let's go!"

"Shouldn't you wait a bit before jumping into inviting her so suddenly?! She's still at the med-bay! I don't think having you breaking in and yelling at her to join the crew will make her feel better instantaneously," Sanji advised while trying to block the door. Luffy seemed to ignore this and went outside anyway. "Always rushing into things, never thinks before acting," Sanji said with a sigh.

"Well, sure it will be shocking, but perhaps it does make her feel better," Robin said suggestively.

"You really think Chopper feels something about her Nami-swan? I haven't notice anything unusual aside Chopper being constantly on a taller shape," The cook asked directly towards their weather manipulator.

"You can call it woman instinct," Nami said reassuringly. "I do believe there's something going on, but not sure if they realized it yet."

"They?" Inquired Robin while looking intrigued. "You also think Monet's feeling something different?"

"She changed drastically ever since Punk Hazard, though it's not that apparent for most people. I'm not completely assured on having her around, but if she developed a likening for Chopper this might work in everyone's favor."

"Of all times to get into this kind of situation, perhaps they choose the worst. There's a lot of danger ahead of us, the last thing I want is to lose a nakama," Sanji with such seriousness that hardly anyone would forget.

"The more we have to watch each other's back the better, and Chopper is one that needs to be watched," Nami said while thinking on the less powerful crewmembers. "If she can take care of him I think we have nothing to worry about."

"Should we take her along to Dressrosa with us?" Franky said finally coming into the conversation. "If she was working for Doflamingo then it wouldn't make any good for her to be seeing among one of our groups."

"Hum, we elaborated a plan few minutes ago. Three parties will take place once we reach the island," Sanji said pointedly while setting the table for diner, the cook was already planning on making a reception party for Monet's inclusion with the crew. "If necessary she can stay at the ship as guardian along few of us."

"That would be a waste, I rather have her taking action where we need her," Zoro said with disagreement. Sanji chuckled.

"Oh, so it seems someone is being more open minded lately," The blonde commented with a smirk. Zoro remained passive about this. "I think the same to be honest, but it's not like we would keep her away the whole time, just avoiding her coming into shore so soon would spare us a lot of attention. She's like lightning falling upon the seas during the darkest storm."

"What exactly does that means?" Usopp asked not understanding that comparison.

"It means Monet would bring herself attention just as a firework show," Robin said with a more simple comparison. "She's well know at Dressrosa, and it's not as harpies are normal creatures that fly over the seas. In fact, Monet must be one of the most unique beings that many will see in their lifes."

"Ahn, so what exactly her role would be? She's well known among the people of Dressrosa, should we really risk having her there?"

"Could we use her as a spy or distraction? If she's part of Doflamingo's crew maybe she can have easy access to restricted areas, especially help us locate the SMILE factory," Zoro suggested while examining one of his swords.

"That would be a good deal, that if she agrees on taking such risk," Nami said while thinking a bit more carefully about this prospect.

"I rather not have her going alone," Sanji said clearly concerned about the harpy's safety. "She might be strong, but doesn't exactly means she should do this on her own."

"And who exactly would you send with her cook-san?" Robin asked curiously. Sanji stared away for a second before answering.

"For that we all have an answer."

 **Meanwhile…**

A sudden knock on the door brought Chopper's ears to stand up, his attention being driven from the book he was reading towards the door.

The reindeer spent several minutes treating over Monet's injuries, being excessively cautious about anything he did. Never he took this long to treat such simple injuries before, this kind of side effect forced the reindeer to rethink about what Nami said to him on the previous night.

Did he really had a thing for Monet? Did he even realized if he did felt something towards her? Would she returned those possible feelings?

He felt this situation was going to drive him mad at any second, how he could've developed such feelings without even realizing? This what the so-called love was like?

But….it didn't make any sense! Why would he have developed feelings for her without a good reason? What Monet had on her to cause this strange effect on him?

One thing he couldn't deny. He really cared about her.

Another knock forced the reindeer to stand up from his chair and attend whoever it was. Monet was still awake at the bed, reading one of the books Chopper gave her a while ago. No longer being in pain she seemed to be contempt on resting a bit from the stressful day.

Which was way far from ending.

"Who is-

Before Chopper could finish the door was brutally open revealing a very excited Monkey D. Luffy coming across it. The reindeer stood dumbfounded as Luffy went by him without saying anything, the boy made a straight line towards Monet.

"Oi, Monet!" He said loudly. The harpy's eyes widened, her face expressing a bit of shock and apprehension. She was worried that she would receive a reprimand for her actions towards Breed. Luffy seemed quite energetic yet, strangely, not mad at all, but his face revealed ferocious determination.

"Be my nakama!"

"W-what?"

Monet's face went pale instantly as soon she heard those very few words, the shock revealed over all her features. She stared dumbfounded at the mugiwara captain wondering if he was joking, but deep inside she knew he meant it.

Luffy stood with his arms crossed, a big smile on his face as if he just expected for her to finally say yes.

Chopper came by her side, still trying to absorb the amount of events that just transpired in a matter of seconds. When looking at Monet it surprised him to see her so visibly afraid.

"Why?" She asked as if it didn't make any sense.

Both Luffy and Chopper remained silent, it wasn't really necessary to answer that, at least they felt like they didn't need to, her answer would come along the way, eventually.

The shock of this plagued her mind with dozens of thoughts, starting from her loyalty with Joker until the so much the Straw Hats had done for her so far. She simply couldn't compare, they were much better at every single aspect.

Had she done that much to gain their trust? She simply didn't believe it so, didn't they judged her for killing Breed the way she did? Weren't they afraid or upset? How could they be so caring of someone like her?

Did she really deserved a second chance? Was it worthy to take that chance?

It was truly unbelievable, they actually meant it when they thought about asking her to join the crew, she really didn't believe it to be true, but here was mugiwara Luffy, captain of the Straw Hats, requesting for her to join his crew!

What else could she say? She simply forgot everything else at that moment, driven by the suddenness of everything, she finally decided herself on what to do.

"….yes. I want to join your crew," She said, feeling these last words driving her out of energy more than anything else had so far.

That's it, she did it, she joined their crew. Now everything was bound to change, no matter if for the better or the worst, she finally decided something for herself about her life. Whether Sugar would agree or not with this it didn't matter. It's Monet's choice, she wanted this, she needed this, more than anything.

While Luffy let out a happy laugh, Chopper finally managed to calm himself from the nerve-wrecking moment and felt relieved of her decision. The reindeer being assaulted by great happiness, which few seconds later turned into shocking horror once he realized what this sudden happiness meant.

He does like her. He does have feelings towards her. What else could he use as a clue? Chopper was afraid of Monet leaving ever since she came aboard. Nami was right, and this made the reindeer a bit ashamed for getting upset with the navigator.

"Awesome! Can you get downstairs to have dinner with us? We normally throw a party to welcome new members," Luffy asked while looking around for Chopper. The reindeer, after few seconds of hesitation, finally understood what his captain wanted.

"I'll get her up soon as I can, no worries," Chopper said once he prepared a med-kit just in case. Monet was clearly embarrassed about having a party just to welcome her, never she had any of such before, not even at her birthdays.

Luffy turned around and went back to the dinning room. Chopper took few minutes to prepare something to give Monet enough strength to put her muscles to use. Normally the reindeer would've requested for them to delay the party for another day, but giving the fact they would be reaching Dressrosa tomorrow it was better to take this away as soon as possible.

"I'm glad you joined the crew," Chopper said casually helping the harpy to get up. She chuckled a bit while using the reindeer as support.

"I'm glad they meant to take me in, I wasn't really expecting it," She confessed while taking slow steps towards the door. Chopper blinked.

"We never lied to you about anything Monet, we're just looking what's the best for everyone. We know you can be much more with us."

The harpy slowly nodded while coming downstairs with the aid of Chopper.

"I guess it was better to be expecting different, rather a nice surprise than a great disappointment, I really need good things to happen for a change."

Chopper felt a heavy weight on his heart as he heard this, never he thought he would feel so sad for someone before.

"Good things happen with those who make good Monet," Chopper said once they reached the dinner room's door. Monet laughed.

"You have no idea how familiar that sounds, even if not entirely true."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Whew! Finally the review sync has been fixed!** **I was getting worried already. Thanks for all of you who have been following/reading/commenting the story so far.**

 **Now to the reviews!**

 **Blue VanLocke;**

 _I'm sure many were waiting for it, or at least wishing…._

 _Chopper and Monet is…..complicated, it's not a transition that will happen in the matter of days(chapters actually) and….Chonet?Monper? Yeah, it's just silly. :P_

 _And no, I don't think Blue it's a girl's name._

 **crushvox;**

 _Lol, did I? Kay….._ _And Chopper's not in heavy point form, he's on jumping point form, which is far more different and, honestly, elegant. Plus it matches Monet a bit, she's tall as hell. Lol._

 _Not that it really means anything. :P_

Once they reached inside the atmosphere was incredibly energetic, just as Chopper expected, but for Monet to see that mess all over the place was quite a surprise.

"Oi, Monet! Come here!" Luffy invited from the far side of the table as many of his nakama were having fun. The harpy carefully made her way through the crew, each one of them giving their welcomes to her.

Monet wasn't really sure of what to say about all of this, she was a bit alien to such things as parties. Looking around she saw Law sitting at the corner, not really celebrating anything, if the harpy had to guess it was more likely the warlord was trying his best to not explode at them right there.

She was expecting for Law to be mad, but she felt he took it a bit more personally than normal which was strange.

Once being successful on reaching the other side of the table she took a sit nearby the mugiwara captain, they were kind enough to give her some room so she had enough space to move her legs and wings.

"Row doh ya fhel?" Luffy asked as he tore apart a big piece of meat. Monet tried to contain a laugh as she watched the scene, it amazed her how such things that would annoy her before now were rather amusing.

Sanji came right after, punching the food into Luffy's mouth.

"Manners in front of Monet-chan if you don't mind Luffy," He said as the captain nearly choke. "After two years you're still just as mouthful."

"It's alright," Monet said not really minding Luffy's poor table manners. "It's quite funny to be honest," Sanji stared puzzled at her for a second but quickly recovered himself.

"If you're saying so. I'll be serving your plate, it's there anything at the table you want?" He asked while filling her a drink. Monet glanced quickly at the table filled with food, though some plates already consumed.

"Perhaps a bit of everything, just to try it out," She said sweetly as possible, Sanji's pride inflated in such manner that he nearly ran around the table to fill the plate for the harpy. She laughed at this before turning around to join into an already going conversation between Luffy, Nami and Usopp.

"…because it will cause us serious trouble once we reach the Palace, it's not like getting in will be that easy, and I don't see where else the factory would be," Nami said warningly. Usopp sighed.

"Of course, Doflamingo will have eyes at each corner of the town, and it's not like we could ask around," The marksman said while posing thoughtfully before serving himself of some beer.

"Are you talking about the hidden SMILE factory?" Monet asked out of curiosity.

"EEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

The whole table went silent as they stared at the harpy, most of them with their eyes bulging out of their sockets. Monet blinked surprised by this sudden behavior. As time went by with the awkward silence she grew a bit uncomfortable with everyone staring at her.

"So…you actually know where the factory is?!" Usopp asked amazed by this possibility.

"I never said that…..but yes. I do know of its location," The harpy slowly replied while avoiding their stares.

"B-but, Monet! This could help us greatly! We need so badly to find that factory as soon as possible, that's pretty much our primary objective," Nami said as if trying to reason with the bird women.

Law calmly observed, his previous anger having dissipate a bit, the fact Monet carried such strategic information for their plans changed slightly his resentment towards her. Of course he still found her untrustworthy, even so he had to admit her help would be very welcome, and perhaps her inclusion into the pirate crew could turn the tables at their favor.

Monet was still pondering over what Nami said. They were now officially her nakama, they requested her help just as she needed theirs.

"I'll gladly provide the information you need, as long I'm allowed to go after my sister. I rather not wait until anything unfold to get to her."

"That sounds fine for me, we can send someone to help you on your task," Sanji said after bringing a well-filled plate for the harpy. "Fair enough, what do you think Luffy?"

"That's ok for me, but like Sanji said you shouldn't go alone," Luffy answered while trying to sneak over Monet's plate. Sanji kicked his hand away without delay. "Ouch, it hurts!"

"Are you sure? I know where Sugar tends to be located at. I could reach her without raising any suspicious, all I need it's time to talk with her about everything," Monet said while trying out the food on her plate, she hadn't realize how hungry she was after putting so much energy away.

"What exactly Sugar does for Doflamingo?" Robin asked, she's been intrigued by this for a while. The harpy took a slow breath before answering, she knew how much of a delicate subject this would be, considering the harpy's involvement in the past.

"Sugar makes part of an old plot of taking over the kingdom of Dressrosa, such act took place many years ago. I…"

She hesitated before continuing, being totally aware that what she was going to say next may compromise her inclusion in the crew.

"Monet," The harpy instantly turned around towards the captain. "Whatever happened in the past doesn't matter now, it's who you're going to be from now on that we are counting with."

It was at that very moment she felt the rigid control she always kept over emotions fade away a bit. This was just too much. Their kindness towards her being so great that it was almost unbearable. Last thing she wanted was to cry over, she refused to do such, closing her eyes forcefully Monet tried to gather herself together before continuing.

"I took part on a scheme to sabotage the Royal Family that was previously ruling over the kingdom, once my part of the plan became successful it opened a straight path for Joker to dispose of the king and his loyal members. Joker forced him to do things that made people from all over Dressrosa hate the king forever, several people died that day…"

A steady pause went as the harpy's eyes went over the table expecting their disapproval, much to her surprise they seemed to be more understandable than anything, at least most of them.

"Yeah, so you made part of a criminal organization to sabotage a king of sorts, sounds familiar to anyone?" Usopp asked to no one in particular.

Nobody answered but few people stared straight at Robin. The harpy took notice of this and glanced at the archeologist with curiosity. Robin merely smiled while focusing on her drink.

"Perhaps we have more in common than we thought," Robin said without being worried at all. Monet made sure to remind herself to ask more about this in particular at a better occasion. "Still, I'm curious to know how exactly Sugar fits in all of this,"

"Sugar has gained the ability of transforming people into toys by touching them," The harpy explained slowly.

"Toys?! Wow, sounds disturbing," Usopp commented while thinking on what kind of toy he would be transformed if such event happened.

"That's not the worst, if you end transformed into a toy, every single people that has memories about you will forget them completely. So pretty much you'll be erased from the world," Monet finished before eating a bit of the food on her plate.

A brief silence fell over the table, this detailed explanation of Sugar's powers made many of them think how much of an effect it would have over an entire kingdom.

"Sounds like lots of things have been manipulated, I just wonder how many people must've turned into toys so far," Nami said feeling unnerved by such.

"Many," Monet said after a short pause. "Most toys are being forced to work at a secret port under the castle. Other few go around the town to entertain people. They simply cannot control their actions unless Sugar's releases them."

"How can we turn them back into normal people?" Zoro asked looking straight at the harpy. Monet stared at the swordsman sharply. She still had a grudge against the green haired-man.

"It's quite simple, all it takes is for Sugar to be unconscious. Once she's out, all the people will be turned back instantly,"

"So that's it! If we do that we may cause enough of a commotion to keep them distracted for us to act, do you think you can talk with your sister?" Nami said anxiously.

"It's been few months since the last time I saw her, aside wishing to see her again I know how complicate it will be for Sugar to understand the changes I've made. I simply cannot promise she'll listen to me," Monet said convicted.

"Monet," The harpy again averted her gaze towards Luffy. "If necessary….would you knock your sister?"

Despite expecting this the harpy couldn't help but feel rather upset he asked such. Never before Monet laid her hands over her sister, and she would be dammed if she ends doing it now.

"I'll not hurt my sister," Monet said firmly.

"Even if Sugar attacks you?" Sanji inquired while cleaning off the table. The harpy slowly pondered about this.

"Well…if it actually happens….and I don't have much of a choice…."

"We're not saying you should, just advising you it might be necessary giving the circumstances," Nami tried to explain, hopefully to not upset the harpy with the idea. "If Sugar is that important to keep Doflamingo's plans under such secrecy then Sugar will have the best protection over her."

"I'm aware of who guards Sugar, I'm the most qualified person to deal with her guardian," Monet replied while fixing her eyes on the captain. "I don't mind having someone else going along with me, as long he can keep up with a fight."

"Well, I'm sure he does," Usopp said without thinking. Monet fixed her glare over him.

"He? So you've already decided that? Well, I'm glad to know we won't waste any time planning this only when we reach the island."

"Most of it was planned already, but since you're carrying so much vital information we might make few changes," Sanji warned.

"If necessary so be it, as long I'm able to do things my way to get Sugar to safety," The harpy said not giving away any room for questioning.

"As long you don't leave your nakama behind," Zoro pointed out severely. Monet chuckled, not surprised at all that the swordsman would see her as such person.

"I won't, I can promise that," The harpy replied before raising from her seat. "If you don't mind I'll sleep for a bit, I've been quite exhausted since Punk Hazard. Thank you all for the reception, I wish we could prolong this, but I think it's best for us to gather energies for what's to come, we all going to need it."

"Sounds good to me, we really should do the same," Luffy said in agreement.

"Shouldn't we discuss the change of plans first?" Usopp asked, worried by how relaxed his nakama were acting.

"At the morning perhaps, we'll be reaching shore at the afternoon," Law said without looking at anyone in particular. "In the mean time we should gather the most energies we can. It's going to be a long day."

Without delay Law exited through the already open door, returning to his usual corner to keep the vigilance over Caesar.

"They're right, we could use some sleep. Tomorrow things will be tense, this would be the first time we know we're running into big trouble once we reach an island. Good night everyone," Nami said with a sigh before finishing her drink and leaving along with Robin back to the dorms.

Slowly each one of the crew members left the kitchen back to their own rooms, Sanji stayed behind a little longer to wash the dishes.

Monet was about to leave when she saw Chopper still sitting at the table, it made her curious of why he was being so reserved ever since they reached the kitchen.

She came by his side, stopping few inches away and staring intensely at the reindeer. Whether he was trying to ignore her or not she wasn't sure.

"Tony?"

Chopper blinked for few seconds before slowly raising his head towards her, once their eyes made contact the reindeer visibly tensed.

"Are you alright?" She asked being genuinely concerned for him.

"Yeah,…just thinking a lot lately," He replied weakly while trying to finish his food, he barely ate anything on his plate.

Without asking, the harpy slowly took a sit nearby him, her right wing gently embraced around the reindeer. She could tell such move made him tense even more.

"I'm not really one to be lightening up spirits, but….if there's something worrying you so much you can ask me for help if you need it," She said humorously.

Chopper remained oddly quiet, unsure of how exactly he could ask for her help if the problem involved her directly. It was not like she's the problem.

Oh, who he was kidding? Of course she's the very issue that plagued his mind nonstop on the last minutes, but everything that was happening at the moment just made things much more difficult to process.

Sanji stood behind the balcony while studying the reindeer's behavior. It was clear that Chopper is extremely conflicted at the moment, and the blonde could easily tell how this sudden closeness between the reindeer and the harpy is unnerving Chopper greatly.

Monet frowned slightly, it was unusual for her to see Chopper this reserved, it seemed the reindeer was apprehensive once again about being close to her, but this time she felt it was for different reasons. A sudden idea came into her mind, she couldn't help but smirk at the devious thought she wanted to perform. Hopefully this wouldn't make him upset.

"Well, goodnight. See you tomorrow," She said inclining closer to the reindeer's face and giving him a brief kiss at his furry muzzle.

Chopper's eyes went instantly wide as his jaw dropped slightly at shock, before he could say anything the harpy crossed the door leaving only him and Sanji alone at the kitchen.

"Well, she probably is the most flirtatious women I've ever seen, I'll give her that," Sanji commented offhandedly. He slowly moved around the balcony towards where the reindeer was currently sitting at. "So, how do you feel?"

"I….don't know…what do you mean?" Chopper asked still trying to understand what happened. The cook lightened up one of his cigarettes while moving towards the door.

Sanji have been thinking for few minutes of what he was going to say to the reindeer, he knew how much of a delicate subject this was going to be. At the very least he would make Chopper mad or a bit depressed.

"Well, I never thought I would be saying this to you, but…" Sanji stopped briefly to exhale a small cloud of smoke. "…do you know how to deal with women?"

Chopper blinked furiously, his face reddening at each second, he was pretty sure he didn't listen it properly.

"Uh…wait, what? I don't get it Sanji," The reindeer said scratching his neck nervously. Sanji chuckled.

"You're young Chopper, and Monet is a full grow up women, she also has a strong personality. First things first, just be yourself and be at her side all the time,"

What the hell was Sanji talking about? Chopper stood flabbergasted while staring at the blonde as if he was some sort of crazy psychopath.

"Uh….okay? What exactly are you trying to say?" Chopper's nervousness was enough to shake his voice, he tried to shake it off but having Sanji advising him over such things didn't make it possible at all.

"We're about to enter into a very dangerous situation, Monet's involvement will make things much worse. There will be people aiming to kill her at all costs…." Sanji paused briefly to let the words sink into the reindeer.

What Chopper once felt as nervousness now being replaced by sudden fear and apprehension.

"…not only her but all of us will be at stake once we set foot into Dressrosa, are you ready to take whatever is necessary to keep the people you care about safe?"

This sudden seriousness of Sanji made Chopper a bit wary on what he was going to say, it's not like it's the first time they risked their lifes, going through terrible things like Enies Lobby was an example of such. Perhaps the difficulties at Dressrosa would be just as the same.

"I'll do whatever it takes, even if I have t-

"No," Interrupted the blonde severely.

Chopper blinked, not expecting that from Sanji. He stared at him unsure of what to say. The cook visibly sighed.

"More than anything…..don't die. Stay alive Chopper. We'll be facing people much above your level,"

Chopper stood unsure of whether feel terribly insulted, humiliated or worried by this remark.

"If that so…." He said weakly as he tried to think of something to say that could restore his dignity. "….what am I to do?"

"The original plan was to keep you at the ship with Nami, Momonosuke and Brook, but since Monet is going to venture inside we need someone to go along with her. It won't be Zoro because we know why, and Robin has a different task along Law and Usopp. Me, Luffy, Franky, Kin'emon and Zoro have a crucial task to carry. I would offer to go with Monet, but I'm sure she'll refuse," The cook sighed worried by the harpy's stubbornness. Chopper didn't need any longer explanation to understand where this was going.

"You want me to go with Monet," Chopper stated. Sanji nodded.

"She'll most likely accept, normally we wouldn't put you into such danger, Sugar is probably at a very well-guarded installation, there will be powerful opponents there that you won't be able to stand against on your own."

"But Monet can handle them, she has proved strong enough to fight against all of us," The reindeer retorted visibly upset by being indirectly called weak. He knew Sanji was putting it lightly as possible, still hurt anyways.

"That she did, but it would be a great distraction if she had to be looking after you all the time,"

Chopper's frown deepened a bit, thought it wasn't visible thanks to his large hat. It just made him mad that people thought he couldn't handle himself, but it felt even worse that they would be worried he would be delaying others, especially Monet. It stung his pride hard, he wasn't really sure of what to say about it, there was simply no lightly way of discussing it.

Still he couldn't deny the very bit of true about that. Monet, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Law were way above his level, there was simply no way he would get that strong, he had his own limitations as a reindeer.

Unless he developed something else aside morphing into different forms, but what else could he do of different?

He felt worthless.

Chopper stared at the wooden table with great interest, no longer concerned about his food. He felt nauseous about this whole conversation, more than anything he would be happy to take a bath and sleep till tomorrow.

Sanji realized how negatively this affected the reindeer, he knew it would end as such. What else would he say? Not a lie for sure, this was for the best regarding Chopper's safety. There was a time to fight and a time to hide.

"We don't think less of you Chopper, we just need for you to not do something you just can't,"

Something he can't. Something he….can't?

What exactly that was? It was about himself or the harpy? Chopper couldn't help himself or he just wasn't strong enough to help her? Or it was about something else?

"Thank you Sanji, have a good night," Chopper said rather rapidly before exiting through the door, a turmoil of different emotions going inside of him.

Sanji sighed heavily before recovering Chopper's plate and returning to the balcony. Perhaps it was not a good idea to confront the reindeer like this just as they were about to reach Dressrosa, he just hoped such feelings wouldn't get in their way. The cost would be just too great for all of them.

Chopper went straight for the bathrooms, hoping to clear his mind with a warm shower, he suddenly remembered of how hard it was for him to bath and dry himself thanks to his thick fur. Perhaps bathing could wait for another day. He really didn't want to disturb Robin right now.

It was when a sudden embarrassment hit him with full strength like ever before. He's been bathing with Robin?! How could he?! Such awkwardness about the event he never felt previously made him realize how he changed since Punk Hazard.

Perhaps this strange feelings regarding Monet were affecting him that greatly? Was Sanji right about warning Chopper of being wary of his feelings?

Even if the warning had several double meanings that he didn't like.

"Something troubling you?" A voice suddenly asked as the reindeer made his way to the bedrooms. Chopper quickly turned around to see Monet standing at the entrance of the small hallway. How did she got there without him hearing anything?

Perhaps he was really disturbed.

"Aside lots of things I've been counseled with, not much," The reindeer retorted sarcastically. Monet blinked at his sarcasm, being quite unusual to see him like that. She could tell Chopper was upset with something.

"Whatever you've been told do-

"They don't think I can keep up with you," He blurted out before he could restrain himself. Monet slightly raised an eyebrow at this.

"They?" She asked curious to know who would doubt of Chopper's capabilities, though she couldn't help but secretly agree with it.

"Sanji," The short and dry answer made the harpy wary of what to say next.

"I don't think any less of you Chopper, I guess this all this is because you're the one who's going with me once we reach Dressrosa?"

Her question surprised him, how could she have guessed so easily?

"Yes…but I don-

"Then you will do just fine," She said before passing by him towards her own room.

"You trust me?" He said astonished by her confidence on him.

Monet stopped briefly while staring at him, her expression just unreadable. At first Chopper was doubtful she would say anything, but surprisingly she smiled and gently patted him with the tip of her wing.

"How could I not? After all you've done for me?"

 **A/N: Boom! Sorry Cliffhanger! This chapter just went too far, I'll make a proper ending on a remastered version. See you all again soon hopefully, have a nice week!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Well, so far I've been quite disappointed with the progress of the story, I'm not sure if it's because the time of year or anything, but I might bring this to a standard until things settle up.**

 **I really need opinions, I can't stop thinking that this whole pairing thing is probably having a negative impact on the story, I'm not quite sure. I know it's odd and all, but if you take a better look at the hundreds of thousands of One Piece e on folks, ain't THAT odd. It's always nice to try different things, and this is rather unique. Especially regarding a Straw Hat member that is so underrated.**

 **I'm not saying you all should like of it, but give a chance for things to work out and PLEASE voice(write) down your opinions about it, being negative or positive. I need to know what I'm doing wrong(aside terrible grammar)**

 **To the reviews!**

 **Blue VanLock;**

 _You're welcome! Yeah, but it would be kinda impossible for she to be unaware of things at Dressrosa. She does have to now, and that changes...everything? :P_

 **CyberCrasher;**

 _Thanks for logging in! And well...Breed deserved what he got. Monet was just being playful with Chopper, but hey who knows..._

 **Charlie...B...BARKIN!;**

 _CHARLES!I'm sooooo happy to see you again bro! Where have you been?!I haven't see you in ages! But, wow! Look at you, being quite a reviewer that I totally did not expect, thank you for that. No, I did NOT forgot about Forgotten H...oh, I see, dammit! You got me good there..._

 _You damn mutt, I would send you a PM but you probably would take forever to respond unless I update one of my fics. I known you very well. See you again soon Charles, try to stick to your inbox a bit longer this time._

 **Guest;**

 _Okay, as you wish! Just keep in mind few updates take longer than others, I'm working on other stories after all._

As the first lights of the morning came up revealing the foggy shore of Dressrosa at distance the crew was already fully awakened.

The atmosphere was incredibly tense, each member reminding themselves of the great dangers laying ahead just by few miles, how much of a risk they have gotten themselves into, even if they decided to go into it without hesitation.

Few of them were gathered at the kitchen room, having already settle their objectives they found themselves without the need of gathering to plan anything. Each one went on spending the last peaceful moments the best way they could.

"Okay, so let's recap this," Nami said breaking the silence that paired over everyone at the kitchen. "Chopper and Monet will go after Sugar. Luffy, Law, Zoro, Sanji and Franky will go to the factory. Robin, Usopp, Me and Brook will keep Caesar at the ship while navigating near the shore. We'll make our way to the meeting area where we'll deply Caesar."

"That's pretty much it," Usopp said while adjusting his equipment. He was bringing everything he could in his pack, aware of how much this new mission would require their best. "I just wonder if we should wait for Chopper and Monet to disable Sugar first before we act."

This suggestion brought up by the marksman made everyone think a bit more.

"It's not a bad idea, but what if something goes wrong with them? Should we split up and have someone go for their assist?" Nami pondered.

"Perhaps Sanji, but only if really necessary. We'll be helping Kin'emon to find his friend, Luffy promised after all," Usopp responded.

"We're right here, you two could talk about it with us," Chopper said gritting his teeth while looking at them. Both the reindeer and harpy were at the kitchen waiting along few other crew members.

Chopper was still visibly upset due last night, he didn't judge them for keeping him out of the reunion. Perhaps it had been better this way, but the conversation he had with Sanji brought him to an edge he simply didn't know how to avoid.

Monet's been very interested on knowing what was bothering Chopper so much, still she's been kind enough since she spared the reindeer of questions he simply couldn't respond.

Everyone eyed the reindeer, they could easily sense the hostility coming out of him, Nami sighed before making her way towards him.

"Chopper, I know that Sanji talked with you yesterday," At this she paused while staring daggers towards the cook. Sanji visibly winced a bit. "But rest assured that we are counting with you. I'm sure that you and Monet will be fine, just make sure to look out for each other constantly."

This lightened up Chopper's spirit slightly, he shook his head as a sign that he would carry her advice. Monet chuckled while observing both of them, she was also confident about her skills and the reindeer's capacity. Monet couldn't help but think how much she would hate herself if anything bad happened with Chopper, she never felt this weight of having responsibility over someone's life aside Sugar.

"He'll be fine, don't worry Nami," Monet reassured the orange-haired girl while standing up and coming near both. Nami was taken aback by the fact Monet called the navigator by her name for the first time.

"I sure hope so, or you _two_ will hear a lot from me if it goes any different!" She replied in a way rather threatening but humorously at the same time.

Chopper laughed nervously at her threat, feeling quite amused yet anxious for what they were about to face.

Morning's breakfast went slower than usual, most crew members and guests being more concern about making personal preparations for their venture into dangerous territory.

Monet made her way outside so she could get some fresh air. She could sense her nakama's anxiety through the ship, yet it wasn't bigger than her own personal fear of coming back to Dressrosa in the position of Straw Hat Pirate.

Exploring the inside of her ship has been her main entertainment for the last hours, once learning every single aspect of it she contempted herself on sitting at the extreme side of the stern, staring into the emptiness of the ocean, avoiding making eye contact with the mass of land that was approaching slowly.

Monet knows where Sugar is, but facing Trebol might be quite dangerous knowing about what her guardian was capable of. Little chance she had on passing through the installations as a member of the family, by now Joker must've declared her dead to the rest of the crew.

Still, there was a possibility of him not having warned Trebol due the fact he's constantly guarding Sugar, and it's not like Joker would tell Sugar that her old sister died. That could be problematic.

The harpy wished she could just sneak in and fly away with her sister and stay the far away as possible from Doflamingo, but knowing the warlord he probably would chase them forever. Their only chance of freedom was laying on the hands of the mugiwaras.

Ironically she just became one of them, perhaps it was time for her to make that chance happen.

"Worried about your sister?" A smooth voiced asked from not too far away. Monet recognized it instantly.

"Yes, even more since it's been a very long time since I last saw her. Sugar simply doesn't have any idea of how much I changed."

"Yes, time does that with people, and people change other people with time," Robin said somewhat mysteriously. Monet sighed.

"Unfortunately I cannot change time, just follow through as it goes by. Can I ask you something?" The harpy said turning around to stare directly at the archeologist. Robin nodded. "Why Luffy made an alliance with Law? What does he can possibly gain with this? It's simply not worthy to die because of that selfish jerk."

"Perhaps you're right," Robin said in agreement. "Even so, what about the people of Dressrosa? It's not worthy to die for them? For all these children, mothers and fathers?"

The harpy's gaze softened at the mention of such, Robin did have a point after all. This is what a Straw Hat would do, despite having people like Law going into a personal revenge and using them as support.

"All for a noble cause I suppose?" Monet retorted expectantly. She wondered if the Straw Hat's did this on the solely purpose of helping or it's just a thing that came along the way.

"Wouldn't you call it the same?" Robin asked. Monet frowned in confusion. "The effort you're willing to put for your sister?"

 _Touche._

"Admittedly….yes. Pretty much that's what it is, aside personal obligation," The harpy huffed angrily with herself.

"Still you do it because you love your sister, that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Monet stared hard into Robin's eyes, she thought for a second that the archaeologist had dropped a hint. Perhaps she did.

"Are you saying that I'm afraid of loving someone?" The harpy asked with evident suspicious. Robin chuckled at the harpy's perceptiveness.

"Perhaps you are, but then you do love them, as long you don't have to admit it to anyone else. Speaking of loving….what do you feel about Chopper?"

Monet witnessed many strange and bizarre things in this world, she being one herself. If in the past, whatever occasion it could've been, someone would ask her about her feelings towards a half-human half-reindeer living being that was eight years younger than her, she probably would've laughed her lungs out of her chest or rather killed that person for daring asking such ridiculousness.

But here she was, a member of the Straw Hats, being questioned about one of her nakama about her feelings towards the doctor of the crew.

Oh, this was too good of an opportunity to let pass by.

"Well…" Monet smirked while placing the tip of her wing under her chin in a thoughtful manner. "….perhaps I do feel something, but who can tell, right?" She asked playfully. Robin's once curious expression turned now into one of concern.

"Monet," Robin started in a way that made Monet notice the sudden seriousness implied into her voice. "Please be careful with him, I carry great concern for Chopper's safety. I would feel truly devastated if something happened with him."

Robin's plea astonished the harpy, of all things this is something she would never expect coming from the archaeologist.

"You two are close, isn't that right?" The harpy asked dropping the playfulness aside. Robin nodded.

"Yes, we have a special friendship. I still feel bad for the way I shook him at Water Seven, the events that unfold at Enies Lobby let him in a real bad shape, not worse than Luffy though. We do have a special care for each other since then."

Monet stood quiet for a second contemplating Robin's words, then a suspicion dawned into the harpy.

"Does…..Tony…..no….no way…." She stared towards Robin with frightful eyes. The archaeologist remained quiet while awaiting for her to finish. "…but….that makes no sense."

"Which part exactly?" Robin mused. "The one of you being a harpy? Or the one of him being a reindeer? Or how much older you are? Or that he saves lifes and you take them? Or that he was always a Straw Hat Pirate and you worked for Doflamingo a day ago? Or that you tried to murder him two days ago?"

Monet glanced at the archaeologist for a very long time, she was totally off put by what was being discussed.

"Why you came here? To tell me about his feelings?" The harpy asked after a long silence. Robin shook her head while turning around slightly.

"I'm more worried about your feelings towards him at the moment."

With that Robin walked away leaving Monet alone at the deck. The harpy stood still for long minutes, her mind went numb from the shock of everything she heard, but what made it even worse was the fact she really didn't know how she felt about anything that was happening.

Chopper spent the last minutes preparing himself for his personal task at Dressrosa, despite Sanji's concerns the reindeer felt prepared for anything he would've to face. When normally he would fill his bag with all the proper medical supplies this time he felt he had to do different.

It gave him chills to think about the things he would be carrying along with him, and it could seriously endanger his own life it anything ever came to crash into it.

He knew better than anyone that there's no possible way he would be able to stand on an even ground with Monet when it came about fighting, the only solution to this was to add intelligence where he lacked strength. He did such before at Alabasta, surely he could do it again now.

 _'Perhaps I should have spent more time on improving my powers than other things in these last two years'_

Chopper wondered if his nakama had a good reason to be so worried about his possible feelings towards the harpy, it's not like he ever experienced such before or was looking for advice.

It was funny that he really didn't feel terrified by this perspective, he could easily remind how he would freak out and avoid talking about females. Once Usopp 'invited' him to spy over Nami when she was showering. He refused under excusing himself that he had no interest on naked human females, but mostly because it was Nami and he respected her greatly. Unlike Usopp, the reindeer had no desire to be caught on the act and murdered at sight by the navigator.

A sudden knock on the door broke Chopper's line of thought, he turned around to look at the door in amazement. Could it be Monet?

Oh, gosh now he was becoming paranoid about her.

"Chopper, are you there?" Zoro asked from the other side. The reindeer stood baffled for a second, never once Zoro came around to visit the med-bay by himself, it was pretty much the only place of the ship he didn't like to get around.

"Y-Yeah, I'm here. Come in."

Once the door opened and the swordsman made his way inside, closing the door smoothly as possible, the reindeer understood this a sign that he wanted a private conversation.

Zoro spent a whole minute staring straight at Chopper, as analyzing him in some mysterious way. The reindeer stood firmly unaffected by this observation.

"You must be aware of the problems we'll have once we reach the next island. I'm not here to waste time telling you what to do. Just make sure you ready for what's coming."

Chopper blinked. This was typical of Zoro to go straight to the point, but even so the reindeer felt unsure about what exactly he was implying to.

"That depends, what exactly should I be ready for?" He questioned while turning around to finish organizing his bag.

"For betrayal."

Chopper's body stiffened as he heard these last words, the shock of realizing how much distrust Zoro has over Monet came out unexpectedly. Could he really be expecting that from her?

"The problem is..." He continued as the reindeer stood quiet. "…that she might care enough about you to betray both parties. All I suggest you to do Chopper is to keep an eye on yourself. If that bird women decides to go on her own, let her be."

Chopper remained quiet as Zoro finally made his way back outside without any further adds. Well, his advice sure didn't do anything helpful aside generating a small fear Chopper didn't need.

" _*sigh*_ Is too much to ask for someone to lighten up the mood?"

As if answering for his question another knock came from the door, but the knocks sounded heavier than normal, almost as if someone was kicking the door instead. Puzzled by this the reindeer went forward to open it. Once he saw the harpy standing on the other side his stomach twisted from the inside in a way he never thought it was possible.

"Well, hello there. I figured that we should plan something once we reach the town. It wouldn't hurt to have a backup plan."

Monet entered inside the med-bay before Chopper could say anything. It amazed him how nice she was being for no real reason, thought he was wary of her occasional flirts.

"Backup plan? We didn't plan anything yet. What exactly do you want to do?" He asked, eyeing the harpy with suspicion. She was smilling much more often than usual, and her relaxed posture concerned Chopper more than her regular cold moods.

"Oh, that's what the surprise is about. You see, I can't exactly be seeing around with a reindeer tall as you. Too many undesirable questions. You should turn to your original reindeer form, this way I can have an excuse I adopted you as a pet. Fit's perfectly since I'm a snow snow user and….well, you're a reindeer. I do have odd tastes, so nothing abnormal will come from that."

She laughed a bit at the end, but Chopper visibly frowned as being referred as a pet.

 _'Speaking of having odd tastes…'_ Chopper thought, only to mental slap himself right after for thinking such.

"I trust you Tony, despite what everyone might say. I just want to know if you really trust me, if-

"But I do trust you Mon…net!" He added quickly. "I never said I didn't! It's just that….some people keep telling me I shouldn't…"

Monet rolled her eyes at this before coming around the reindeer to check the things he loaded in his bag.

"Let me guess, a bunch of men came around saying you should let me go or forget about caring about me and focus on yourself?"

Chopper stood in awe while looking at her. He nodded silently.

"Well, and, in the mean time, I came around the only female in this crew, they were really concerned about us looking for each other instead. You'll find out that men and women take things differently when it comes about…"

She silenced herself all of sudden, as if realizing she was about to say something she shouldn't.

"About what?" Chopper asked while looking at her with curiosity.

"I'll tell you soon, and what are all these things you're carrying? I hardly think that…" She grabbed a large bottle with dark inscriptions on it. "… _this_ would be for medical purposes."

"I'm a doctor, not a saint," The reindeer replied upset by her questioning. Monet was highly amused by the time he finished preparing himself.

She probably spent the last ten minutes on her flirtatious mood, Chopper put all his focus on not dropping anything by accident and end up exploding the whole room. The reindeer was pretty sure she was making him nervous as if to trying him to confess something out of his anger.

Whatever game she was playing he had no intention to lose.

By the time they reached the shore everyone was ready to perform according with what was planned.

Zoro, Franky, Luffy, Kin'emon and Sanji would go to the factory. Robin, Usopp and Law would deliver Caesar. Nami, Brook and Momonosuke would stay at the ship. Monet and Chopper would go to the secret port area.

"Alright, everyone down here," Law said once his feet touched the ground. Luffy had come down before he had even finished.

Soon the whole crew was down along with him. "Okay, we all know what we have to do, just make sure you stay under cover all the times. First group will go to the factory, second group with Caesar, third group to the port," At this he paused slightly staring briefly at the harpy. She pretended to ignore him as always. "Fourth group stay on the ship. Any questions?"

Usopp raised his hand on the air.

"Yes?" Law asked looking at the sharpshooter.

"Should we move already? I'm starting to think we're late…"

"Why would you say that?"

"Because the first group is gone," Usopp said pointing out at a specific area behind Law.

"What?!" Law turned around to find out that Luffy, Brook, Franky, Kin'emon and Sanji were already missing. "Mugiwara you're the worst!"

"He just can't resist about jumping into action, can he?" Monet mused as she went by.

"Watch yourself," Law warned as the harpy went away accompanied by Chopper.

"What? Now do you care? Too late, I already have someone who really cares," She shot back without looking at him.

Chopper did not understood the exchange, and he preferred to remain ignorant about it.

As soon as they were getting into the town Chopper morphed into his smaller four-legged reindeer form. Monet eyed him briefly before keeping on her way.

She was unsure of what to expect once she made inside the town, most likely some people would recognize her as one of the Doflamingo's family members, but she never had wings or bird legs before leaving Dressrosa.

Oh, how much of a sight that would be! An incredibly tall bird-like woman well known as member of the Family walking in the company of a reindeer that wears pants, hat, and a shirt and has a huge backpack filled with highly suspicious material! Perhaps to make things even odder she should've brought Brook along.

They went for few more meters before the harpy halted herself all of sudden. Chopper looked at her with wonder.

"Something is not right….it's too quiet," She said while closing her eyes and standing quietly on the same spot.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Chopper asked hoping he didn't sound silly. Monet smiled a bit easing his nervousness.

"It should be, but when it comes about Dressrosa, and that their lord supposedly resigned from the Shichibukai, it makes me worried. I've been here before many times, none of you did. I can tell there's a difference, but as incredible as it looks…there's none."

"Was the newspaper fake?" He asked worriedly. Monet pondered over this. Was it possible that Joker manipulated the news regarding his resign?

"I don't see ho-

She stopped herself once she spotted something at the floor few meters away, she made her way towards it. Chopper followed her but being very wary for any other presence around them.

Monet picked whatever it was from the ground and took a good look at it, at first she blinked thinking she might have read it wrong, but once taking a better look at it her face went paler than usual.

"Monet, are you alright?" Chopper asked noticing her sickened expression.

"Yes…..I'm alright," She responded a bit too quietly. "We better move on, follow me,"

Chopper did as instructed and followed her. They end up walking for few minutes until they finally went towards an old building that came on sight far away from the town, the harpy carefully opened the cranky door so enough room would be given for both of them to pass through.

"This building was previously an old house for maintenance of the sewer network. It's been deactivated for few years, I decided to learn about it in case I needed a place for Sugar to hide during a crisis. This sewer lines are incredibly extensive, but most of them are deactivated, we can reach the palace through here quite easily," She explained while opening an old hatch on the floor.

"Well, now I know why it stinks so much in here," The reindeer replied while taking a wary look at the dark hole. "How deep we'll have to go?"

"Perhaps half dozen meters, no more than that. I would be amazed if someone checked over these tunnels nowadays," She said while slowly taking few steps inside.

"Aren't you worried of getting dirt?" He asked dumbly. Monet laughed.

"Heroic deeds aren't for those worried about looking good, don't worry. Nothing yo...I can't clean later," She joked. Chopper sighed.

"It's not easy to clean fur as is to clean feathers," He complained with himself before following her down the sewer.

Well, what a great way to start the day. Following a creepy psychopath harpy directly into the dark hole of crap and oblivion.

Still Chopper had the strange feeling they would have the easiest way across the kingdom if compared with the other groups.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Well, thank you all for the comments! I'm very happy with the latest results, though I still have some doubts….anyways. To the replies!**

 **Crimsom-Wyvern**

 _Well, someone had to! :P I also hate Oda for that, that's soooo unfair. I was pretty pissed already with the new post-skip time appearances, I honestly was hoping Monet would break the ice and bring some of the joy back for me to watch this show again. Unfortunately I only made it bitter…_

 _I was sooo upset with Law as well, and this bastard got shot dozens of times, lost a freakking arm and is still going! WTF? Logic….you get none._

 _I'm still wary about the whole pairing thing, I'm actually terrified by this possibility. I know very well how much of a deal a story about Monet is, and considering people "don't" really like Chopper for anything aside fluffiness (or yaoi)I'm not sure on which ground things will stand. Only time will tell. Hell, it will come to a point in the story that I really won't know what to do._

 **crushvox**

 _Not even close to an end, or half of it. In fact….perhaps this story will be long as the anime goes from now on. I still have a LONG ground to cover until I catch up…soo…yeah. :P I'm glad for FanFiction, it gives you something else to expect aside only the new episodes._

 **Blue VanLocke**

 _Yes, she's weird on her own way, that's why I liked her so much. Sometimes I think her personality can be very erratic once she opens herself more towards the others._

 _Yes, she still uses the same outfit. Cause random reasons did not allow me time to put into perspective if she ever wondered about using the same clothes for so long.(3 days) But that might change soon, especially judging on what she ended going into on the last chapter. :P_

 **Charlie**

 _Glad I could keep the humor! That isn't exactly easy, it tends to variate depending on who's reading. At least for you it worked fine._

 _Robin and Monet share similar traces indeed, makes building her personality quite easy. I can relate her ways with other characters and in that way create a mix that develops during the course of time._

 _The hardest part will be her powers, the fact she's already worked out from previous fights, and how can she tag along in a fight with her nakamas._

 _I still believe everyone is eager to see the Family's reaction once they find her out._

 **demonslayer4** ;

 _Well, thanks! You're right, the first ones were terrible!_ _J_ _But thankfully I'm making progress, hopefully I can live up to expectations._

 **Rod Vulpine;**

 _Ominous?…ominous…..ominous….*checks dictionary* AH! Ominous!...yeah, probably…._

Initially Chopper was glad for Monet's idea of using the sewers to pass by any inconvenience they would probably face at the surface. Now he wasn't so sure he liked this idea.

Especially because the smell was ruining his sniffing skills.

The tunnels were really old, few of them collapsed, who knows how long ago, forcing both of them to take several detours to find an alternative route. Weird as it seems Monet was having fun dealing with all this problematic occasions that would pop up in front of them. Chopper was trying to contain his nervousness every time they faced an obstacle that would cost them precious time, it made him puzzled as to why she was finding this entertaining.

Boy, perhaps she was really bored if playing with broken walls was keeping her distracted.

It was when Chopper realized they haven't shared a single word ever since they came inside the sewers, at first he felt stupid for not starting a conversation, on the other hand he didn't want to distract her of finding her way to the port area.

The darkness of the tunnels wasn't absolute thanks to the small lamp Chopper brought with him, it was a good thing the sewers were out of use, otherwise the usual gases that would accumulate at such areas would've instantly reacted to the flames and exploded around both of them in a matter of second.

The echoing sound of his hooves was the only thing indicating the presence of life down this dark path. The harpy was unusually quiet for Chopper's likening. Not that he liked to hear her talk! He was just worried with her overextended silence.

It was a good thing these tunnels were large enough to allow both of them to walk despite their height, Monet would've experienced serious issues if she had to crawl. It was by imagining such scene that Chopper's been unable to contain a laugh.

Monet blinked for a second before turning her head around to look at him.

"Something funny?" She asked curious as to what made him laugh all of sudden, her voice easily echoed through the cold darkness. The reindeer sweatdropped.

"Hum….yeah. Just thinking about something…." He said nervously, despite talking quietly his voice echoed just as much as the harpy. Monet tilted her head at him, inexplicably this made Chopper blush.

"Oh, what is it? I could use something to laugh," The harpy stood watching the reindeer expectantly. Chopper wondered if he should be honest with her, but what else could he say? He seriously doubted he would be able to pull a joke out of thin air, he was no damn comedian after all.

"I was…thinking if these tunnels were shorter….how weird it would've been for you to crawl through them…"

Monet raised an eyebrow at him, but few seconds later she chuckled. The reindeer felt a wave of relief wash over him, thankfully she didn't took that badly as he feared.

"Well, that actually would look funny," She admitted while smiling at the thought. "At least I can tell it's more about how funny it would look, normally other people would enjoy seeing me in disgrace like that."

An odd silence followed these words. Chopper grasped his both hands nervously, he wasn't sure he should say anything but still found the courage to do it so.

"I would never laugh about anything that might hurt you Monet. I'm sorry if I brought back any bad memories."

If Monet was surprised she covered it well, still her eyes locked into his with such intensity that made the reindeer tense for no real reason. Thankfully her expression softened few seconds later, it seems whatever was bothering her finally went away.

"It's alright, no harm done. I know you didn't mean to. Let's keep going, few installations will be reachable from this tunnel, we can get a better idea of what's going on from inside one of them,"

"How much until we get there?" The reindeer asked apprehensively.

"A while," She said sounding quite relaxed. "It's there something you wish to talk about?"

"Húh?" Chopper's ears perked at this question. "Like what exactly?

"Like what do you think about my tail feathers? You've been staring at them for a while…."

The reindeer stood shocked while looking at her, a flush of shame and fear coming at him like a bullet.

"I-I-I did? I….I'm sorry, I-I didn't notice…." He stuttered while lamely excusing himself. Monet laughed heartedly at him.

"I was just messing with you, I had no idea if you stared or not," She said smacking him playfully with the tip of her wing. Chopper was dumbfounded at this.

"Oh….heh, yeah….that's…"

Realizing how uneasy the reindeer had become her smiled instantly faded. She came closer towards him and couldn't help but sense how tense he was.

"Tony, are you ok?" She asked with such softness that Chopper couldn't help but stare back at her.

" _*sigh*_ I'm fine, it's just….I can't stop worrying about everyone else," He said while gripping his backpack harder than necessary, but Monet felt there was more to that. Her penetrating gaze fixed on his eyes unforgivingly. Realizing the stare Chopper trembled a bit before continuing. "….I'm scared of dying."

Monet blinked for a second, her mouth hang open as if to say something but no words came out of it. She definitely wasn't expecting this kind of confession, also it made her clueless as what to say in response, she wasn't exactly well known for cheering people up, her social skills were lame at most aspects.

She looked at him deeply in the eyes, she found nothing but hopelessness, doubt and fear. Was he really that badly doubtful of himself because of what few of his nakama thought about him?

She rustled her feathers with some agitation, being frustrated at having to deal with his despair. Chopper stared slightly curious at her reaction.

"Remember when you saved me at Punk Hazard?" She wait for his nod before continuing. "I was ready to die back then. I had nothing but my sister to live for at that moment. I….hate to admit but….I was scared….and I still am."

Chopper's eyes widened a bit, of all people he thought Monet would be the one not scared among all of them. Monet held her breath for a bit while lost in thoughts, she knew that there wasn't much she could say to alleviate his fear, but maybe inspire him to overcome that fear was the goal.

"Despite the terrible things we'll probably face here….at least I know I won't die alone."

Chopper's mouth opened slightly at shock, he stared for a long time into her eyes, he felt as if something was burning inside his chest making difficult for him to breath.

For the first time Chopper wondered for how long the harpy has been suffering while working for Doflamingo, did she ever felt any kind of happiness along all these years working under him?

Could he blame himself that he sympathized greatly with what she just said?

"Can we pull this out?" Chopper asked hopefully.

"Maybe we can, it depends entirely on us. The others have their own problems to deal, as long we keep watching our backs there's nothing to worry about."

'Yeah….you're right," The reindeer said in agreement. "At least I'll be able to try out some new stuff."

"That's the spirit," Monet said, happy for his change of mood. "I'm curious to see what you can do, we really haven't fought against each other yet," Chopper snorted.

"For that I'm glad. I would've got several bruises and whatnot else," He said with a nervous chuckle. Monet giggled.

"Ah, you're just being modest. I'm sure it wouldn't have been _that_ bad," Chopper gave her an scrutinizing stare, the harpy slowly came to accept the truth. "Okay, probably it was going to be really bad."

"I don- " Chopper stopped for a second, his ears caught a resonating disturbance. "Do you hear that?"

Monet stopped and stood attentively still while testing her audition, she could hear something but nothing really distinct.

"What is it?" Chopper took few seconds to respond.

"It sounds like…..yelling and…..sword fight?" He seemed puzzled.

"Perhaps we're close to the Colosseum," The harpy said while thinking hard on a plausible explanation.

"Colosseum? You mean like…an arena?" Monet nodded. " It's there such thing here?" Chopper was taken by surprise, he never thought he would actually ever see one of those, and for a good reason.

"Aye, the venue is usually used for hosting fights and competitions. Used to be honorable for a man to fight in this arena. The Colosseum battles were not to the death. Joker's thirst for violence changed the traditions, and he tortuously drowns a gladiator for not shedding any blood for the spectators.'

"Oh, that's…I really don't know what to say," Monet shrugged.

"Well, not that I really care about it, but we could take a look if you want," She said tentatively. The reindeer frowned slightly.

"Shouldn't we focus on getting to the port?" He asked severely, which was highly unusual to see such seriousness coming from him.

Monet hesitated a bit before answering.

"Well….actually the port is _under_ the Colosseum…"

"WHAT?!"

The shock of the hidden information caught Chopper totally off-guard, he stared at the harpy as if he never saw her before.

"And you….wait! But then where exactly Luffy's group is heading to?" He asked sounding quite upset.

"I told them where the entrance is, but not where the factory is…." For the first time Monet actually seemed nervous. Chopper eyed her with suspicion.

"Monet…." He started very slowly. "…where is the factory?"

"Right beneath the Colosseum," She said rather timidly. The look of betrayal Chopper was giving her made things very awkward for the harpy to deal with.

The reindeer wasn't sure if he should explode at her or just remain in silence. Perhaps it was better to question it first before pointing fingers.

"Why?" Was all Chopper said. At least Monet had the decency to look ashamed.

"I couldn't lead them straight at her, it's just too dangerous. You saw how they ran for it before Law had even finished talking. I need to talk with her first, I can't risk her safety! Tony…. please, believe me on this,"

She sounded desperate, which was exactly what gave the reindeer the assurance he needed to know she's being truthful. Oh, the hell with it, what choice does he have anyway?

"Alright. Where exactly are we going then?"

Monet would've let out a breath of relief if she could, she wasn't expecting that Tony would believe her at all. She was well aware of the risks she took by misguiding the Straw Hats like that, not only it would cost them time but also could endanger their lifes even more.

But worst of all, it could be enough reason to get her kicked out of the crew.

"The Officer Tower, that's where my sister probably is, follow me."

 _'We're so dead'_

Getting in the port area using a complex sewer system took time but wasn't all that difficult. Now that both of them have a good view of the whole complex the reindeer wondered how where they supposed to reach the tower without being spotted by, at least, a dozen armed men.

At first Chopper expected to see one or two ships and several supply crates, instead they found a great number of highly armored ships with hundreds of pirates and Doflamingo's subordinates around the whole complex.

"What's the plan?" Chopper asked while observing the shipments being carried by several toys. He had previously questioned the harpy about the toys, he heard before they used to be people, but these toys were men who had previously fought at the Colosseum and lost. They were tricked and turned into toys against their own will.

"Plan?" She said humorously. "I admit my _plan_ was mostly about getting in there _, how_ to get there was irrelevant."

"Was?" Chopper asked with a touch of sarcasm. He really couldn't recognize himself anymore.

"Obviously the fact Trebol might be in the Tower guarding Sugar makes me more wary about going around knocking people out of the way," She said as a matter-of-fact. Chopper rolled his eyes, she sounded the exact opposite of Luffy. No doubt the mugiwara captain would've took down half the enemy party by now, and probably wrecked few ships.

"Can we try to sneak in? I rather take my chances dealing with this Trebol than hundreds of his peers."

"Now that's a smart way to go. I'm relieved you're not just as dense as Zoro or Luffy," Chopper huffed undignified.

"Now that's unfair! Why would you think I'm like them?" He asked annoyed at the assumption. The harpy was clearly having fun with the conversation.

"Just something Nami keeps reminding me every time she can. Of course I never would assume you're slow to think, but then she said you're silly on your own way."

"Silly?"

Before Chopper could question further the harpy stretched her wings wide open and flew away. Chopper thought he was about to have a heart attack. How could she be so crazy like that?!

He watched as the harpy flew nearby the gigantic walls, she made use of the non-illuminated corners to cover her advance. After covering a good distance she made a sharp turn directly towards the Tower, in a matter of seconds she flew inside through of the small windows.

 _'She did it...'_ Chopper was totally amazed by the easiness with which she did that, fearless like Luffy but not as dumb at all. As the seconds went by Chopper finally realized something.

"HEY, WHAT ABOUT ME?!" He yelled panicked at the long gone harpy.

"Did you heard that?" A guard few meters down below asked. His companion gave him an odd look.

"I heard something, I think it came from up there..." He slowly turned around to observe the wall. The reindeer sweatdropped as he covered himself away from the guards.

 _'She just left me behind, I can't believe it...'_ Chopper was at total despair with what happened. How could she have done this to him? Did she not trust him at all? Or she had her own reasons to do this? _'Urgh, I'm going to look for her and demand an explanation. I'm going to be really upset if she just forgot me here.'_

Chopper calculated a quick jump and waited for the right opportunity to perform it, once the guards finally decided they were just hearing things he made a single long jump covering the greatest distance possible to the tower. Once he landed he quickly morphed into his smaller form and used some crates to hide.

He managed to reach just few meters outside the Tower, but the number of people going through this area was gigantic, and the areas to cover were highly reduced. It was by sheer luck nobody saw him jumping in there, he would've to thank the poorly illuminated area.

Many toys were passing by carrying large crates, this gave the reindeer the chance he needed as he used one of the crates to cover his quick walkthrough. He was expecting the toy to react to his presence, but it merely kept doing his work. Without time to question this Chopper went for the nearest door possible, surprisingly it was unguarded.

Chopper raised an eyebrow. How could they be so careless like that?

Making his way inside was much easier than it should, which made him even more nervous. What exactly could be inside that didn't need tight security personnel around?

The halls were very spaced, but there was nothing really important inside of them, he morphed back to jumping point before moving further. No time to waste walking around, and being small surely wouldn't cover more distance.

With progressive jumps Chopper went after any stairs available, despite having huge walls they did not extended upwards as much, there must be a second floor and a staircase somewhere.

What he found instead was the main entrance of the Tower, or so it appeared to be.

Chopper crossed a huge gate of iron, at first found himself inside a vastly well-illuminated room. It was very colorful from what he could expect of such important place inside a secret port filled with dangerous people. It reminded him vaguely of Biscuits Room, but why they would like that in here?

His answer was awaiting just few meters away.

What appears to be a ten-year-old girl was standing still observing the reindeer as he made his way inside. She had somewhat familiar aquamarine hair and dark blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress with light blue polka dots, a magenta hooded cape with bear-like ears, a monocle shaped and worn like an eyepatch on her left eye, and a small crown, as well as open-toed sandals.

Before Chopper could say anything a huge noise echoed into the room, followed by a small earthquake. It seems a explosion of sorts just happened outside the room. The girl stared around, she seemed unfazed by what happened.

"Hum...hi there," Chopper asked timidly to the girl. She stared at him, and this time her expression was one of surprise. "What are you doing here?" He asked not quite understanding why there would be a ten year old girl in such place.

"I should be the one asking," Her voice sounded awfully familiar to Chopper, the reindeer felt he was missing some crucial detail here. She seemed more concerned on eating the weird candy inside the bow she was holding than anything else.

"What-

Before Chopper could ask something came flying through the wall. Whatever it was impacted on the opposite wall and shattered into thousands of pieces. The girl seemed appalled by what happened ,she slowly turned around after placing the bow at the floor. Chopper had the strange feeling she was getting ready for something, but his mind just laughed off the possibility she was getting ready to fight, such nonsense.

Still there was something very off about all this.

Once the dust cleared out, the hole on the wall became very visible, it was with great shock that Chopper saw Monet coming thorough it as if nothing happened. Still he took notice of her murderous mood as she made her way in, it was the same look she had before killing Breed.

"Well, thanks for leaving me behind," Chopper said recovering from the shock. Monet eyed him briefly, her assassin gaze dissipated instantly.

"Sorry, Tony. I was going to get back at you, I had to-

She interrupted herself once she noticed the small girl standing in the middle of the room.

"Sugar!"

Chopper could've sworn his jaw fell to the floor.

 _'You have to be kidding me!'_

 **A/N: I had to do some quick grammar fixing, forgive me for that folks. I was in a real hurry so things came out really poor at some aspects.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Well, I've bad news. ..I lost my PC and everything I had in my HD. I'm totally appalled by this bad luck I have for so long...most of this new chapter was made using a cellphone. It's just awful! I also want to thank every single one of the last reviews, it means a lot for me and I'm sorry I won't be able to respond to each one. It takes too long. ... :(**

 **Also I would like to appoint sudden issues with this story that I came around after thinking over it carefully on the last 2 weeks...**

 **Do you folks remember exactly when the Straw Hats arrived at Dressrosa?How many episodes since that moment until Luffy's confrontation with Doflamingo?**

 **Now I ask you all...**

 **How many _HOURS_ went by since they arrived until the confrontation?!**

 **I'm like...oh shit!This story took 10 chapters for 2 days, but I simply won't be able to do more than 8 chapters if the whole Dressrosa deal lasted few hours, being excessively overextended by so many episodes. I think Oda forgot about the 'how it all started at morning and went until the afternoon and is still the same freaking day!** '

 **Well, this blew me off cause I might be able to do some fighting scenes and some dialogues and character development here and there, but then I'll get stuck because time in a fic will easily pass much faster than One Piece episodes...**

 **crushvox;**

 _Lol, I'm not sure about "boner" but thanks for the compliment. I never understood of the whole asexual thing but...let's see what we can do._

 **Crimsom-Wyvern;**

 _Well, most definitely. :)_

 **Charlie ;**

 _Flattering too much Charlie?! But thanks anyway! :) Your reviews always made me laugh._

 **Rod Vulpine;**

 _Thank you so much! Q_Q It really means a lot to me! I'm sooooo sorry for the delays, life screwing with me as always. :(_

 **CyberKrasher;**

 _It's tsundere? I guess it is...if that so I think it kinda is and isn't. He never hated or anything like that, he's just a nervous wreck around her sometimes. Even so thank you! Q_Q_

Sugar and Monet stood still facing each other for a very brief second, until Monet came rushing towards her, embracing the little girl with her gigantic wings. At first the girl didn't react, apparently still dazed out by seeing her sister with a so bird-like appearance, but then she finally concluded this wasn't a strange dream and returned the gesture fondly.

Chopper watched the exchange quietly, his eyes wandered between the two of them to the pile of frozen pieces laying at the cracked wall. He could tell Monet engaged someone before entering the room, just who it was exactly it was impossible to tell. At least they were out of danger for the moment, that if they could reason with Sugar.

"Sugar….you have no idea how relieved I am to see you again," Monet said with difficulty, her voice trembling with too much emotion. The little girl seemed to be on a similar ground with their re-encounter, but her expression also had a mix of confusion.

"Oni-chan…what are you doing here? What happened with you?" Sugar asked quietly, she seemed somewhat at shock. Monet chuckled before relieving her sister from her tight embrace.

"Many things happened since I left Punk Hazard, also….there's something we need to talk about. Perhaps we might have to leave Dressrosa."

"What?!" Sugar's state of shock only worsened at this sudden new. "Why are you saying this?! We're safe here with Master, how can you think about leaving him?"

This is when Chopper realized that Sugar was more concerned about leaving Doflamingo's side than Dressrosa. His fear increased as he took that as a sign that the little girl was very loyal to the Shichibukai.

Monet reflected over her sister's words, she knew how much of a thin line she would be walking over in this situation. Talking this out with Sugar would take a serious effort.

"Sugar….the reason I'm not dead it's because that reindeer saved me," The harpy said looking at Chopper. Sugar did the same while slowly studying the tall anthro standing few meters away.

This didn't clear out any doubts the younger girl had, she stared confused between Chopper and Monet.

"What happened? He's a Straw Hat, isn't he? Why would you be tagging along with him?"

"Law betrayed Caesar, he made an alliance with the Straw Hats, his plan was to capture Caesar and went for their help. I fought few of them inside the labs, but…"

Monet paused for a second. It wasn't easy at all to admit to her sister that she lost a fight, especially since Sugar always praised Monet as one of the strongest family members.

"…I've been defeated. My injuries kept me from leaving the lab, so I…."

It was then Monet fully understood the weight of what she had almost done. How could she tell her sister that she has been willing to kill herself?

"You what?" Sugar pressed further for an answer, still trying to get over the fact her big sis had lost a fight.

"Joker always had a backup plan in case the lab was compromised. Detonating the whole facility to erase any traces of what we were doing there was the solution in a case of emergency. I was on my way to blow up the whole facility along with me, the Straw Hats, the Marines, Caesar, the…children…"

Now it was time for both Chopper and Sugar to stare at Monet in disbelief. The reindeer had not know of that. So that's why he found the harpy in a random corridor? She was on her way to kill everyone including herself?! After the few they've been through Chopper wasn't sure anymore if he could get mad at her, she changed since then. Still they would talk about it later.

Sugar stared eye-wide at her sister, apparently the fact that Joker never mentioned anything about Monet's whereabouts made things worse for the little girl to deal with. To hear from her own sister that Master wanted Monet to die for his cause shook her a bit, and to think her sister has been saved by a Straw Hat made things much more conflicting to her.

"Sis….are you leaving Master?" Sugar asked after few seconds of thoughtful silence. Monet let out a heavy sigh before answering.

"I can't bring myself to keep serving him anymore Sugar. I may have a debt towards him, but also I had a debt towards the Straw Hats. Overall I had a choice, and I choose to be with the Straw Hats," Monet said with absolute conviction.

"But Sis! Master…" Sugar was about to protest, saying Master was a nice person, saying he wouldn't hurt them for no reason, but feeling the betrayal in Monet's voice when talking about Master made the little girl lost on what to say. The facts were so heavily against Master, no matter how loyal Sugar was to him, her sister was definitely more important. "…I can't betray him…"

Chopper felt bad for the little girl, she's been confronted with a very difficult choice, it wouldn't be easy for her to make a decision, probably she saw Doflamingo as a father figure.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't sure of what I'm talking about, please trust me on this Sugar," Monet pleaded while shooting a quick glance at the person she just confronted minutes ago. It would be only a matter of time before he stood up again, Monet knew as much.

"If you're saying so, but where should we go? He would go after us! He will kill us! Sis, we can't fight him…" The harpy shared Sugar's hopelessness.

"No, we can't. That's why I'm placing all my trust on mugiwara Luffy to defeat him, it's our only chance of freedom and living the life we always wanted Sugar!" Monet was starting to sound a bit desperate. Something that gave Sugar a more solid ground to stand before making a choice.

"Where would we go then?" Sugar asked with a tone of defeat, apparently fairly convinced about everything that has been said so far.

"I'm a Straw Hat now, they took me in their crew just recently."

Monet said that with such pride that astonished Chopper. Had she really took into them this deep? Was she so determinate on filling into that role?

Sugar's shock was even more apparent, though the girl didn't seem to have anything against it. It blew Chopper's mind away to see her accept all of this with such easiness.

"Mind me if I introduce you to the doctor of the crew?" Monet asked, her tone of humor returning without any problem. Sugar hesitated a bit before nodding.

"Shouldn't we talk on another place? Trebol is right there, but I don't think you killed him just yet," The girl pointed out while she walked towards the reindeer. Monet was by her side, staring at the same direction her sister mentioned.

"He's knocked out for some time, he should've know better after seeing me that I should not be here at all. I can imagine Joker never mentioned anything that happened with me on the last days," Sugar's disappointed face and silence was enough of an answer to Monet. "Hum, totally predictable. At least he doesn't know I'm here yet."

"What are you here for oni-chan? Aside me of course," Sugar asked distractedly, she was analyzing Chopper from head to toe wondering what kind of powers he has.

"Law and Luffy intend to destroy the SMILE factory, as also defeating Doflamingo and the other family members."

"Is there something wrong?" Monet asked noticing the dreadful look in her sister's eyes.

"The Marines are here, they have an admiral with them."

Chopper and Monet eyed each other quickly, sharing their own worries about this unpleasant revelation.

"This explains few things..." Monet muttered while looking at the entrance. "We should get going, but first...Sugar, can you turn the toys back to normal?"

"Eh?But oni-chaannn, it's fun!" The girl whined while grabbing the bowl of candy. Monet sighed.

"I know, but isn't about time you grow up? I know it's part of your powers, but we can't keep going like this anymore. It's time to do the right thing, and keeping the people enslaved like that won't make any good, especially to us. Besides I know you love that candy of yours, but you know the effects of it. Take it easy on that for a second and eat other stuff for a change," The harpy scowled the girl without any hesitation. "You're twenty-two years old, it's about time you actually look like it."

"Twenty-two?..." Chopper forgot that Monet mentioned about her sister's age, but she had nothing like early twenties at all! Since the harpy just refrained the girl about eating the candy, which was in the current bowl Sugar was holding, perhaps that had something to do with her appearance. "How-

Before Chopper could finish something came flying towards the reindeer at blindly speed smacking him across the chest. The reindeer flew away towards the wall without control leaving several cracks as he impacted. He fell to the floor with extreme pain shooting across his body like fire, he could feel that at least few ribs had broken.

"Tony!"

Monet turned around to face the aggressor, she was less than impressed to see Trebol walking towards them. Sugar slowly walked away, standing nearby the reindeer. Chopper coughed up a bit of blood before standing up again, taking slow breaths to alleviate the burning sensation inside his chest.

The figure stood at the other side of the room. He had dark hair that is worn as a bowl-cut, wearing a small pair of sunglasses and had a broad flat nose, which has a snot hanging out of it. He has a long, thick beard and some stubby hair on his upper lips. He also has a small scar just above his right eyebrow. He was holding a scepter with a club suit design on the top.

Before any words could be said snow was visibly falling around the whole room. Monet was already calling into her abilities, her avid stare towards this new foe gave Chopper a dreadful feeling that this man was going to be lots of trouble.

"Behehhe, Monet! What you're doing? Why did you attack me? Ne,ne, who's that animal?" He asked while glaring at the group.

"Careful, he's powerful," Sugar whispered to Chopper. The reindeer gave her a short nod. "He ate the Beta Beta no Mi, he's a sticky gruesome man."

"Is he your bodyguard?"

"Was..."

Monet's powers were manifesting around the room with much more intensity, she was carrying that psychotic murderous expression of her again.

"You should wait outside, we'll take care of it," Chopper advised while preparing his battle stance. Sugar gave him a kick in the leg that surprised the reindeer.

"The hell I am, I'm can handle myself just fine!" She said angrily. The doctor sighed at her stubbornness.

"I sure hope so, let Monet make the first pass. You know this guy better than me, what advice do you have?" Sugar gave him a smug smirk.

"Just try to be faster than him, I mean it. Much faster...if you can."

Judging by the seriousness in which she stated that, Chopper could guess this Trebol man had some sort of lightning speed ability. Which seemed very unlikely judging his appearance, but then he remembered how Hody Jones could convert incredibly fast attacks despite his apparent weight.

"I'm here to take my sister Trebol, you would be a wise man to not stand in my way," Monet said with such venom that gave Chopper chills. Despite the tension rising Sugar seemed quite fine with everything that was happening, which just made Chopper even more dumbstruck as to how could she take all of this suddenness so well.

"Nyeah, nyeah! Joker will be most displeased with you, Sugar was always much more valuable than you. He won't let you get away with her," The coated man retorted ironically. Monet's frown deepened. The temperature had dropped drastically in the last second, to the point Chopper felt compelled to embrace Sugar to make sure she wouldn't be too exposed to the harsh cold.

The girl did not bother with Chopper's concern on her, she was too focused on her sister to care about anything else at the moment. Went Monet became like this it meant she was going to take the fight to the end.

"We should give her some room, you don't want to be close when she gets like that..." Sugar advised him. Chopper remained silent, but gave enough of an sign that he understood her warning.

"I will kill you," Monet said.

It wasn't a warning. It was a statement.

Chopper gulped nervously before jumping away holding Sugar in his arms. His chest still hurting badly from the previous attack. Once they reached the door an explosion sounded on the back and the whole room was filled with a snowstorm that blocked their view. The wind was so strong that almost knocked Chopper out of his feet.

"I should help her," Chopper said feeling guilty by leaving the harpy alone with that enemy. Sugar gave him an scrutinizing look.

"What good can you do to her if you get killed?Last thing she needs is someone to worry about in a situation like this. I known my sister, she can handle herself better alone."

The ground shook as more snow exploded all over the place inside the room. Cracks were forming at the walls with the intensity of the tremors. It would be a matter of time until people outside noticed what was going on.

"We should block the door, avoid anyone coming in," The reindeer suggested while looking for the exit. Sugar snorted at his suggestion.

"Honestly I rather be outside than trapped in here. This is the last thing you want to do," She said deadpanned.

"Then what-

Before Chopper could ask the wall nearby them collapsed. He jumped a quickly as possible to avoid being crushed by the falling debris. After few dramatics seconds they landed on a safer area.

"Ok, outside it is then," Chopper said in agreement after finally taking into consideration all the risks they would be facing by staying inside. He coughed up a bit more and realized he was still bleeding from the inside.

"You should give yourself a check before keep going," Sugar suggest noticing the drips of blood that came from his mouth. Chopper was glad she said that sounding actually concerned rather than sarcastic.

"I'll be fine, as long I don't suffer another blow like that, " Chopper replied feeling sharps of pain at each breath. The fight between Trebol and Monet was escalating quickly, and the reindeer was a bit assured that Monet was causing all the havoc.

"I'll go outside, stay here just in case my sister needs help. " Sugar requested to the reindeer. He nodded before the small girl turned around and moved away towards one of the exits.

"Chopper?"

The reindeer froze, the very familiar voice calling for him not too far away.

"U...Usopp?" He spotted the marksman not too far away hiding behind a pile of debris. His nakama was also stunned to find the reindeer in such place.

"How the heck did you get here? What's going on in there?" He asked fearfully while moving around the debris with extreme cautious.

"Monet's in there, she's fighting a man called Trebol. How did you get in here?"

"Long story, you wouldn't believe it," Usopp replied while working with something inside his backpack. "Shouldn't you be helping Monet?" He asked casually. Chopper felt a pang of guilt before answering.

"I would, but her sister told me I should leave her for the moment."

"Sister?" Usopp stared at the reindeer intrigued. "Oh, yeah...Sugar...wait, did she talked with her?!" He asked almost frantically.

"Yeah, the conversation shook her a bit, but s-

Before Chopper could finish the wall near them collapsed as something came flying through it with incredible speed. As soon the smoke cleared they saw the harpy laying among the debris, she was coughing hard while trying to stand. Visible marks of aggression all over her body.

"Monet! Are you alright?" Chopper asked fearfully while approaching her. She took a second to gather her breath before responding.

"I've been better...you know...perhaps I could use some help. Oh...it's a good thing you're here Usopp. We could use of your skills for this fight," She remarked ironically once she noticed the marksman near the reindeer. A deep cut on her lower lip bleeding profusely, her wings contained few holes among the mass of feathers.

Usopp became white as a sheet while looking at her.

"Why do I have the feeling I came in on a real bad time?"

 **A/N: Sorry for the slightly shorter chapter folks, I'll have to slow down the updates a bit, I'm really sorry for all the inconvenient.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates folks, but due losing my PC(stolen), not having money for another, and since I'm studying hard to be a radiologist , I pretty much lost any time possible to invest on updates. I'm really sorry for this disappointment...but I'll try all I can to deliver something for you all. Thank you all for the support and again I apologize for the delay.**

Things were going bad enough after Trebol launched Monet through the wall, the add of Usopp in the mix made things more complicated than it should. The simple fact that the marksman couldn't do any better than Monet in a fight against Trebol was enough for Chopper to grew extremely concerned. Having another person to worry about around you made things much more difficult to handle properly.

The reeinder glanced worriedly at the harpy. The new add of injuries that Monet received, including the previous injuries back at Punk Hazard, made her exhaustion visible as she took deep breaths while doing her best to focus at the task at hand. It was clear as cristal that she wouldn't stand much of a chance in this fight, her body was screaming in protest at each move she made to keep on the fight, the pain a constant reminder of how much she could take.

"Monet, you should let us help you...you don't have to do this alone..."

It's not that she held any kind of distrust regarding the reindeer or the marksman, but Monet knew how less powerful both were compared to her, besides having more people to worry about wasn't too comforting.

"Hopefully not. You two must be careful, if we can't bring him down I'll use ten-layer Karakuma to trap him for few minutes," She said while still panting heavily. Chopper nodded despite having no idea what ten-layer Karakuma was.

Monet underestimated her previous wounds, perhaps Tony was right when he said she should not have overextended herself. An explosion outside shook the ground they were currently standing.

"What was that?" Chopper asked looking at Usopp straight away. "You set anything to explode Usopp?"

"It must be Robin, she would provide a distraction in the mean time we would take to reach Sugar," He replied while keeping his staff aimed at Trebol.

Before anyone could reply Trebol launched another attack, some sort of jelly mass came at incredible speed towards them. Monet managed to deflect the attack by ironing one of her wings on an slope angle. The attack bounced off her wing and went into the wall creating a visible hole that reached outside.

" _*gulp*_ This guy is no joke, we better do something quick or we won't stand a chance in here," Usopp said while checking his backpack. "Any ideas Chopper?"

Before the reindeer could reply Monet flew ahead without hesitation and converted herself into a wave of snow. Chopper's mind screamed with panic, what the hell did she think she was going to do at such poor condition?!

Before anyone could realize what was going to happen huge spirals of white formed around Trebol, but this time their foe was much slower to react. It seemed the cold was finally having an effect on his body and his abilities . Before he could try anything the snowstorm got much thicker and an incredible gigantic white sphere slowly converted around Trebol.

Chopper and Ussop stood flabbergasted while admiring the incredible display. After few seconds, once the wind finally calmed down, they couldn't see anything else aside a wall of snow. Monet came at them few seconds later, after she finally converted herself back to her original form she collapsed.

"M-Monet! Are you alright?" Chopper came to aid her with Usopp not too far behind. He slowly observed as she struggled hard to breath, her shape even worse than before. She was just baring at her limit and he knew she couldn't go any further.

"Y...yes...I...think...this will do...for now," She said, taking slow pauses to catch her breath. Her muscles were already sore from the amount of effort made back at Punk Hazard, this new engagement only made things much worse to bear with. "This will bought us...time...we better go..."

With certain apprehension Chopper slowly reached an arm around to help the harpy to stand. She didn't complain about it, therefore Chopper felt safe to assume he was free to carry her along if necessary. Small muffed sounds were coming from inside the snow doom, indicating that Trebol was trying to break free.

"We better go, with him trapped that way we can get out without any problems. I'm sure Robin must've handled everything by now," Usopp advised with a hint of nervousness.

"Hopefully Sugar set the people turned toys back to normal aswell..." Chopper said as he took slow steps towards the exit while dragging Monet at his side.

She wasn't totally depleted, but even walking had become a difficult task for her. Her Karakuma ability took all the energy necessary she had in her body to be performed, she just had no way to do anything for the next hours. For now the reindeer's concern was to get her away to a safer area.

"She definitely did...I known her well enough to know she did..." Monet said still breathlessly, right after she let out a chuckle. "Joker will be mad..."

Which was enough of a reason for Chopper's desire to run away from this place immediately, and Usopp was definitely sharing this feeling with him.

They finally reached outside to see the what was left of the secret port area, now turned into the remains of a battle zone, with small engagements here and there, whatever plan Robin was up to ended up pretty well, most of the secret facility was turned into ruins, pillars of smoke coming from several wreck ships and few huge crates. Many unknown pirates laying around dead or injured, a mix of both Joker's troops and outside foreigners.

"Wow, Robin and the Tontas did a great job!" Usopp commented after a low whistle.

Without stopping to appreciate the state of devastation around them the group went to the furthest corner possible. They managed to pass by unnoticed for few minutes before a voice called for them.

"Hey, wait up!Usoland!"

"Leo! Are you guys alright?" The marksman replied while stopping and turning around to greet someone.

Chopper's eyes blinked while looking around for the voice owner, whoever called sounded like a child, but at first sight he saw no one. With further attention he managed to spot a small being right next to Usopp.

For a moment Chopper thought his mind was playing tricks on him. Whatever that thing was it seemed like the absurd miniature of a chubby person wearing a very extravagant costume. Not sure what to make of this he stared at Usopp with the intent of questioning him about this whole deal.

"It's one of the 'fairies' I've heard so much about," Monet said after a quick glance at the small creature. Chopper blinked a couple times before looking at her questioningly. "They're very popular among Dressrosa culture, it's said once a Fairy takes something that belongs to you there's nothing you can do about it, it's forever lost. I never encountered one before, but I've heard stories that they're actually a tribe that resided into the depths of the Green Bit. Not that I ever cared to research more about it."

With an understanding nod Chopper carefully proceeded to take them further away from the castle, but not soon enough they took few steps Usopp came after them joined by the Fairy and, surprisingly, Robin.

"Are you two alright?" The archaeologist asked while examining them with visible worry. Her eyes detaining themselves for few seconds over Monet, both filled with worry and wary.

"We'll be fine, I just need to lay down for few minutes," Monet replied not minding much her own injuries. "Did you saw Sugar?"

"Yes, it was quite a surprise when she came outside. Me and the Tontas were about to engage her, but all hell broke lose as all the toys suddenly transformed themselves back into persons. Before we could ask anything Sugar fled away and we couldn't reach her." Robin said sounding apologetically. "We would've gone after her, but since fights were breaking through all over the place it was just chaotic for us to pass by."

"Wait...you're that green haired lady!" Leo said suddenly appointing an accusatory arm at the harpy. Chopper and Monet glared back at him wondering what was the big deal about it.

"That's an story for later, we have other concerns now Leo," Robin gently advised.

The Tonta complied with certain reluctance, his eyes carefully observing the harpy as if expecting the worst to suddenly come out of her.

"What I wish to know is why Sugar randomly decided to change the people back to normal."

"I suppose we can be blamed for it," Monet said grimacing a bit while feeling the waves of pain that came constantly from each of her wounds. "We actually managed to get in and talk with her before Trebol could get in the way too much," Robin was definitely surprised.

"So you actually found a way to get in?" She asked with pure curiosity. "It must've been difficult since we came from a long way to get here. Many things happened out there since we last saw you two."

Chopper let out a snort at the intrigue. Apparently he still was upset with the way Monet tried to handle the situation by herself, both Usopp and Robin stared at the reindeer surprised by his reaction. Monet seemed wary of saying anything, regarding how they got in, once she saw Tony's reaction to it.

"Yes, thankfully we found little issues until we faced Trebol. I managed to trap him at the castle, but it's only a matter of time for him to break free."

"I see..." The archaeologist glared thoughtfully at the harpy as if debating over something. "...Chopper, you should go outside and reunite with Violet. Usopp will take you back to the rest of our group. There's a lot of commotion going up there right now. This certainly will bring Doflamingo and his crew after us. Make sure you two stay out of trouble until we can clear this out," She advised severely.

The reindeer was okay with getting out of the way, but he noticed how the harpy's face hardened all of sudden.

"Violet..." She said to herself in a whisper, as if the name wasn't anything of good.

"Do you known her? " Chopper asked carefully after hearing the way the harpy whispered the name.

"In a way... I do, " She replied with the clear intent of not wanting to discuss it anymore.

Clearly understanding the undertone on her voice the reindeer decided to change the subject quickly. He looked around while Robin and Usopp were exchanging information.

The devastation that ran across the Port was astonishing once analysed miniciously. It was easy to conclude that some of the toys were previously powerful people, judging by how badly beaten Doflamingo's soldiers ended, all scattered across the area with some mercenary pirates among them.

"Ei Chopper! Robin told me to take you two back to the others outside. Can you make it outside?" Usopp asked staring intently at the harpy.

Monet wasn't too thrilled about getting on her feet(or talons) so soon after laying down. Chopper provided her a support to get up by placing his arm around her back right beneath her wings.

While not being pleased by being literally dragged around by the reindeer, Monet had to recognize there was no way she would walk out of this one with her own legs.

 _Again._

"We won't be that fast to keep up Usopp, so I hope you don't mind if we take our time," Chopper said feeling his own set of injuries to be difficult to deal without adding Monet's weight into him.

Thankfully the painkillers he brought were proving their value, even if temporary. Usopp nodded on understanding.

"That's alright, don't push yourselves too much. At least the other warriors cleared a path to the surfice, we won't be expecting any real problems for now," He said while taking a lead to the crumbled structure nearby, whatever it used to be before now turned into a way to exit the Port.

Judging the ammount of debris it was quite logical to imagine that a huge group of people made their way outside through this ,previously covered, set of stairs. At each step he took Chopper made quite an effort to make sure Monet wouldn't fall over.

It astonished him to see how badly depleted she was, even breathing was taking her quite the effort.

How didn't he realize this before? As a doctor he never would've let one of his nakama go into battle at such poor condition as this. How did Monet's exhaustion passed by without him even noticing?

Her struggling to keep the pace was making Chopper's consciousness heavier at each step. She should've stayed on the ship, though her stubbornness to go after Sugar probably would have prevented such from happening.

The ascension through the stairs was slow and tiresome, Usopp made several stops waiting for the duo to catch up. Despite the emptiness of the area the marksman kept himself into a guarding stance, awaiting for danger to pop up at any moment.

"There's a lot of commotion going outside, we better be careful on our way out. Sanji, Nami, Brook and Momonosuke departed with the Sunny towards Zou, we c-

"Wait, what? They left us?!" Chopper interrupted Usopp abruptly while being at shock of such event. Usopp's expression hardened on a very uncharacteristically way.

"Captain's orders. Not that they had much of a choice, they ran into enough trouble from what I could recall."

"If you're saying so. Can we find somewhere safe to stay? I don't think there will be any fighting for us to withstand," The reindeer said while staring discreetly at the harpy. Monet has been awfully quiet ever since she heard about Violet, whoever she was.

"The tower platoo maybe, you wouldn't believe how many crazy stuff happened ever since, I hope Luffy, Law and Zoro are alright, haven't seen them yet. Franky is helping to rescue the imprisioned Tontas and their princess."

"How exactly can we fight Doflamingo and his crew with this few nakama?" Chopper was alarmed at how weakened their crew got in a matter of hours.

"Heh, you would be surprised. Let's say the people that were imprisioned aren't exactly friends with Doflamingo, and seems that most these toys were arena competitors. So I imagine they're quite mad."

Chopper nodded slowly, trying to understand what the possible outcome of this whole situation would be. It was hard to figure if those strangers would be willing to help them out against Doflamingo. Maybe not side by side, but they shared the same goals somewhat.

Once they finally reached the outside area they had a good view of the arena nearby, though it seemed that part of the structure had crumbled. The street was currently empty, even so it was possible to hear disturbances all over the places, few pillars of smoke slowly rising at distance. It was incredibly chaotic just as Robin mentioned previously.

"This way," Usopp went straight into a wider street that seemed to lead to some sort of castle.

Ocassionally some people would appear out of nowhere, but most times they were just townsfolk. None of them gave the trio more than a glance, though they stared longer than usual due the exotic nature of seeing an harpy and an incredible tall raccoon walking over two legs.

"I'm not a raccoon!" Chopper yelled angrily at two people that were passing by, both whispering about the reindeer's appearance, though screaming only managed to scare them away.

"I don't really get why that upsets you," Usopp said while watching the people fleeing away on fear.

"How the hell do I look like a raccoon?! Did these people ever saw one before? I'm sure as hell I don't resemble one even by far!"

Usopp was a bit taken aback by the level of harshness coming from the reindeer, even Monet raised an eyebrow at his sudden attitude. Chopper let out a heavy sigh.

"Sorry...I'm just a bit stressed out."

"Then get ahold of yourself, this is not the time to lose your head over silly nonsense," Monet said with a matter-of-fact tone.

"It's not silly..." Muttered Chopper while pouting.

"What was that?" Monet asked with a smile.

Chopper was about to retort but stopped after he saw her expression. Monet's smile could be taken as kind and perceptive, but when looking at her eyes he saw exactly what they were saying;

 _'Shut up or I'll murder you.'_

"Eehh...nothing. I didn't say anything," Chopper quickly replied before things could get any worse.

Usopp stood nearby watching their interaction while sweatdropping.

"Good, we better keep moving. No more nonsense, do you two understand?" She asked severely. Both Chopper and Usopp gulped audibly, they nodded without hesitation. "Very well, I'm afraid there will be more complications once we met with the others. Chopper, how many painkillers you still have?"

The reindeer couldn't help but gasp at shock.

"You can't b-

"How many?" She asked again but more forcefully. Chopper growled frustrated before answering.

"Enough for a couple hours, but that's it. I was hoping not to waste any." He replied with a bit of anger since he knew exactly what the harpy had in mind.

Monet seemed to stare apologetically at him for a second, but that faded in the blink of an eye.

"The real battle starts now, and I just can hope we all survive this, no matter what the choices we make."

 **A/N: First of all I want to thank FF net mobile development for making documents manageable through theirapp, this was a HUGE improvement!It pretty much saved me, now I only wish to be able to update stories directly through it and then this will have reach perfection. Also I finally will be able to get on track, even if making stories with cellphone is annoying at least now is fairly manageable. Also thanks for all the suppory all of you readers gave me. The chapters may get a bit smaller but on a more regular update schedule, I do have other stories to work on. Some corrections were made due a glitch with the editing upload.**


End file.
